RAMBLES M EUROPE: 



SERIES OF FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



BY REV. MY TRAFTON, M. A. 



BOSTON: 
GHAELES H. PEIRCE AND COMPANY. 

No. 5 CORNHILL. 

1852. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in th.e year 1851, 

By CHARLES H. PEIRCE, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



Printed by George C. Rand. 






10 

G. W. PICKERING, ESQ., 

WHOSE GENEROSITY SEOCSED THE GRATIFICATION OF A LONG CHERISHED DESIRE, 

Eijis 2Sttprctcntiinc(; 17oIumc 

IS PvESPECTFULLT INSCRIBED, 

BT IIIS OBLiaED AND GEATEFUL FFaEND, 

THE AUTHOR. 



INTRODUCTION. 



When the writer of the following letters left home for a short 
tour in the " Old World " he promised some friends an occasional 
letter for the periodicals of which they were the editors. 

He endeavoi-ed to fulfil this engagement, and a number of these 
letters were issued in the Zionh Herald^ and others in the Ladies'* 
Repository, published in Cincinnati, Ohio. Some of the letters 
were brought home by the writer, and subsequently published. It 
was his practice to take notes of all that interested him ; and these 
rough and imperfect sketches were subsequently filled up and 
brought into their present shape. 

But he had not the most distant idea of "writing a book;" 
and he feels that it is due to himself to say that it was wholly 
owing to an infirmity which attaches to his constitution, an inclina- 
tion to yield to the persuasion of friends ^ that these fugitive letters 
are presented to the public in their present form. He therefore 
begs the utmost forbearance of that worthy and high-minded fra- 
ternity called critics, lest he should be forced to say, " save'me from 
my friends ! " 

The writer went out to see what he long desired to look upon — 
the " Old World.'' He has given his own views, boldly, but kindly. 
He has endeavored to write Avithout severity ; and if his English 
friends shall imagine otherwise, he begs to assure them that, while 
he has commented freely upon public faults and anti-republican 
customs, his heart cherishes none but feelings of kindness. He 
Avent out an American ; he came back unchanged. 



vi INTRO'DUCTION. 

The writer desired to see things as they were ; to visit the Old 
Woi-ld — not to gaze upon crowned heads, or mingle in the circles 
of wealthy nobles and an oppressive, purse-proud aristocracy — hut 
to visit the people, and form his own opinion of their condition, 
sufferings and wrongs. He has expressed himself freely, and en- 
deavored to give to those who may read his unpretending letters 
precisely the impressions made upon his own mind by a hasty 
glance at what came before him. His time was short, and he made 
the best possible use of it. He may have made many mistakes ; 
and, if so, no one can regret this more than himself. If he has 
wounded the feelings of an English brother, it was not intentional ; 
the fault was in the matter commented upon ; the sin, if any, he 
will hasten to confess. 

One word more : The writer does not come before the public as 
a teac/<er, nor in the usual garb and character of an author. He 
attempts no dissertation upon political economy, no labored review 
of the constitutions and codes of the various governments of the 
lands through Avhich he passed, no labored analysis of the causes 
of the "decline and fall of empires," — in short, he seeks to appear, 
not as a philosopher, but as a " looker on " upon scenes and things 
which flitted befoi-e him, and as a fiimiliar correspondent with 
friends at home. And if these letters shall gratify those friends, or 
fill with healthful pleasure a leisure hour, or relieve for a brief time 
a heart pressed by a weight of care, or awaken sympathy for those 
whose lot has not fallen to them in places so pleasant as ours, or 
increase gratitude to the Giver of all good for this our "goodly 
heritage," the result Avill gladden the heart of their sincere friend, 

THE AUTHOR. 
RozBURT, Sett. 13, 1851. 



CONTENTS 



LETTER I. 

Anticipation. Getting Under Way. A Companion. Com- 
pany. The Keckoning. Sabbath Services. Land. Ireland. 
Being Boarded, 1 

LETTER IL 
Irish Channel. Signals. Steam Tug. First View of En- 
gland. Wales. Liverpool. Landing. Sabbath in Livei'- 
pool. Dr. Raffle's Church. Ragged Schools, - - - 13 

LETTER in. 

Methodist Chapel. Rev. Mr. Caughey. The Reformers. 
Agitation. Dr. Dixon. "Blue Coat Hospital." Menai 
Straits. Tubular Bridge. Mountains of Wales. Chester. 
Royalty. Cathedral. Monument, - - - - 23 

LETTER IV. 

An English Hotel. Beer Drinking. Customs. Expenses. 
Female Clerks. Money Getting. Taxes. Testimony, - 33 

LETTER V. 
To London. Advice to Tourists. Railroads. Rules. Inside 
the Cars. Wine. An Incident. Taciturnity. Caste. 
Scenery. Arrival, - 44 

vii 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

LETTER VI. 
London. " Voices of the Night." City Road Chapel. Among 
the Eminent Dead. Bunhill-Fields. Biinyan. Bank of 
Engh\nd. Centenary Hall. Dr. Clarke. Monument. Old 
Chmxh. Inscription on a Tomb. East India House- 
Streets. Billingsgate. Tower of London. Exploration. 
Martyrs, 52 

LETTER VIL 
Wesleyan Conference. Disappointment. In at Last. Dr. 
Beecham. Number of Preachers. Contrasts. Stationing 
Preachers. Rev. Mr. Waugh, Irish Delegate. Worship in 
" City Road Chapel." Mr. Rogers, 67 

LETTER VIIL 

St, Paul's. Description. Sir C Wren. Statues. Incongru- 
ities. Worship in " St. Paul's." Cost of Seeing. Nelson 
and Glory. Clock and Bell, 72 

LETTER IX. 

Post Office. Change. Cowper. Beautiful Arrangement. 
Beggars. America, England's "Poor House." Police. 
Safety. Expense Temple-Bar. Old Times. Ceremony 
of Queen's Visit. Whitehall Palace. Charles I. Crom- 
well, ... 82 

LETTER X. 

Westminster Abbey. Poet's Corner. Monuments. Chapels. 
Shillings. Crowning-Room. Jacob's Pillar. Tradition. - 97 

LETTER XL 
House of Lords. The Way to Get In. Loi-d Brougham. 
The Pleadings. Lord Wellington. Legislation. West- 
minster Hall, 108 

LETTER XIL 
Hampton Court. Occupants. Wolscy. A Grape Vine. 
Greenwich. Woolwich. A Slight Mistake, - - -121 



CONTENTS. IX 

LETTER XIII. 
Kev. Mr. Melville. Golden Lecture. Eev. T. Binney. Lon- 
don Parks. Buckingham Palace. St. James's Palace. 
Horse- Guards. Mr. Lawrence. Piccadilly and Byron. 
Zoological Gardens, 129 

LETTER XIV. 
Life in London. Poor. Costermongers. Suffering. Roy- 
alty and Rags, 138 

LETTER XV. 
Islington. Cannonbury House. Queen Elizabeth. Gold- 
smith. Sir W. Raleigh. Smithfield as it Was and Is, - 149^ 

LETTER XVL 

Route to Paris. Crossing the English Channel. Second 
Class Travel. Boulogne. Napoleon. Female Porters. 
Passports. Cars. Amiens. Cathedral. Priests, - - 156. 

LETTER XVIL 

Ride to Paris. Scenery. Paris. Hotel. Manners and Cus- 
toms. Cost of Living. Sabbath. Church of the Made- 
leine. Wesleyan Chapel. Dr. M'Clintock. Gospel Wanted. 
Appearance of the City Guides. Tuilleries. Reflections,- 165 

LETTER XVIIL 

Palaces. Republicanism. The Motto. "Notre Dame." Na- 
poleon and Josephine. Relics. The Martyr. Wine- Vaults. 
Jardin des Plants. The Luxembourg. Paintings. Chapel 
of Mary de Medici, - - 184 

LETTER XIX. 

Hospitals. Aged and Indigent Eemales. Hotel des Inva- 
lides. Abbatoires. Napoleon's Tomb. Military Schools, 199 

LETTER XX. 

Palais Royale. Bazaars. Cafes. Curiosities. Model Room. 

Obelisk. Bastile. Barricades. Pere la Chaise. Ney. 

Eloise and Abelard. Napoleon's Marshals. Priests, - - 206 



X CONTENTS. 

LETTER XXL 

A Visit to St, Cloud and Versailles. Walls of Paris. Blouses. 
Palace of St. Cloud. Porcelain Manufactory of Sevres. 
Versailles. Paintings and Statuary. Tapestry. Gardens, 217 

LETTER XXII. 

General View of Paris. Educational Statistics. Government. 
Boulevards. The Seine. Ponts, 236 

LETTER XXIIL 

Journey to Switzerland. Taking the Diligence. A Com- 
pany. Incidents. Scenery, 243 

LETTER XXIV. 

Switzerland. Fete. Lake Leman. Cathedral. Hospital. 
Museum. Mementoes of Napoleon. Lausanne. Vine- 
yards. A Sunset Scene, 251 

LETTER XXV. 

Passage to Geneva. Incidents. Geneva. German Tourists. 
A Table D'Hote. Curiosities. Voltaire and Rosseau, - 259 

LETTER XXVL 
A Bargain. Mode of Travel. Payerne. Home. Roads. 
Swiss Cottages. Friburg. A Postilion. Mountains. Berne. 
The Clock. Historic Reminiscences. Castles. The Old 
Minster of Berne. Route to Soleure. Church of St. Peters. 
Arsenal. Ancient Armor. Route to Basle. Basle. Eras- 
mus. Zwingle. Seminary for Missionaries, - - - 266 

LETTER XXVIL 
A Parting. Custom- House Annoyances. An Antiquarian. 
Soldiers. German Oppression. Duchy of Baden. Black 
Forest. Agriculture. Baden-Baden. Churches. Bishop 
Spencer. Gambling. Sabbath Evening, - - - . 293 

LETTER XXVIII. 

Baden to Heidelburg. The Castle. Relics. Chapel. Con- 
fessional. Luther. A Table D'Hote. To Frankfort. Pas- 



CONTENTS. XI 

toral Life. An Incident. Arrival at Frankfort. Hotels. 
The Poet Goethe. Military. A Museum. The Cemetery. 
Watching the Dead. Jews' Street. Mother of the Roths- 
childs, 308 

LETTER XXIX. 

Peace Congress. Delegates. Place of Meeting. Speakers. 
Gen. Haynau. Cobden. Eraile Girardin. The People. 
Resolutions. Markets. Smoking, 324 

LETTER XXX. 

Leaving Frankfort. Mayence. Bridge of Boats. Taking a 
Steamer. Scenery. Bingen. Tradition. Mouse Tower. 
Johannisburg. Ruins of Castles. The Brothers. Cob- 
lentz. Ehrenbreitstein. A Tale, Rolandseck. Seven 
Mountains. Bonn. Rafts of the Rhine. Cologne. His- 
tory. Cathedral. Old Churches. Ancient Walls. Town 
House. Eau de Cologne. Arrival at Aix-la-Chappelle. 
The City. Hot Springs. English Chapel. Cathedral. 
Tomb of Charlemagne. Relics. Monument, - - - 333 

LETTER XXXL 

Off for Ostend. Railroad. Belgium. Tunnels. Face of 
the Country. Taste of the Germans. Ghent. Brughes. 
Canals. Ostend. Embarkation. Back to Liverpool. Em- 
barking for home. Passage Home. Incidents. Log-Book. 
Arrival, -- 366 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 



LETTEE I. 



Ship K. C Wintheop, orr Newfoundland, } 
July 2, 1850. j 

My Dear S : 

I NEED not tell you, philosopher as you are, how myste- 
riously a single and often simple thought will take posses- 
sion of the mind, vi et armis, and with wonderful tenacity 
maintain its position against all reasoning, all testimony, all 
passion, until at last a simple fact steps into the arena, 
when, lo, the intruder flies without show of resistance, or 
so much as the shadow of apology. And this is antici- 
pated pleasure. Now you must know, mon ami, that the 
sea has ever been to me an object of intense and absorbing 
interest. Tales of the sea I read with indescribable inter- 
est when a mere child ; and how I longed to behold the 
sea ; and well do I remember the first view I had of it. 
I had travelled all day, and put up my weary beast at 
night-fall, and settled myself comfortably in my home for 
1 



2 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

the night, when a distant and indistinct murmur, a sup- 
pressed moan, fell upon my ear. On inquiring, I was told 
it was the sea ! I at once resolved to follow the sound ; 
and I travelled on foot three miles, until, at last, rising a 
slight eminence, the sea burst upon me in all its glorious 
beauty. It was overpowering ; I sat down and gazed upon 
it, listening to its sublime music, as it 

"Sung the deep, profound, eternal bass in nature's anthem, 
And made music such as pleased the ear of God," 

until the evening shadows mildly admonished me of the 
necessity of retracing my footsteps. Smile not at this, ye 
who have been reared on the sea shore, who have played 
from infancy with its crested billows, and sunk to repose 
under its soothing hum. Is it to you mysterious that a 
first view of such an object should fill the soul with such 
indescribable emotions ? Thousands of you have grown up 
in the smoke and din of a city, without ever seeing the sun 
rise or set. Shake off dull sloth, for once, and look upon 
this glorious spectacle, as the god of day rolls up, either 
from his humid ocean bed, and marches forth from his 
chamber behind some wood-crowned hill, or as he wraps 
his scarlet mantle about him and sublimely sinks to rest 
when he has accomplished his day, and then you will 
appreciate the feelings of a simple child of nature who 
wept when he first saw the greatest of God's works. Tou 
will not wonder, then, that to cross this wide waste of waters 
should be an object of strong desire with me. ' 



EAMBLES IN EUKOPE. 3 

"Well, the day came at last, and I was to realize my 
fondest hopes. My baggage was aboard, passengers were 
hurrying in, hands were shaken, cheeks kissed, eyes rained 
tears, the pilot was aboard, the word was given, " cast off 
the fasts, run up the jib," and the good ship " R. C. Win- 
throp" swung off from the wharf. We were afloat! top- 
sails were hoisted, tacks hauled home, and off she started 
for a race of 3,000 miles ! Two hours took us down out- 
side ''the Graves,''^ her course was set east south-east, and 
the pilot boat Phantom run up to us, sent a small boat, the 
pilot, wishing us a good run, swung himself into her, pulled 
away, and we are cut off from the New World. The 
breeze was light, and the surface of the water smooth, but 
by the time darkness came upon us the goodly city of 
Boston, with her tall spires and lofty dome, was below the 
horizon. I felt a sadness stealing over me, and repeating 
the lines, 

"My native land, good night," 

I went below and " turned in ; " but not to sleep, for the 
boards on which I lay were well seasoned, and, per conse- 
quence, not so soft as green ones would have been ; and, 
moreover, as the adipose matter on my skeleton is in the 
minus quantity, the prominent points thereof came in im- 
pressive proximity with the bottom of my crib. My sad 
dilemma had three horns, and on these I hung, shifting my 
position like a skilful dialectician, from one to the other — 



4 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

and all tlie while endeavoring to quote some lines from the 
"Bard of Avon," 

" Sleep, gentle sleep, how have I frighted thee ; " 

but I could get no farther, for evident enough was it to the 
most obtuse intellect how I had frightened her — I had 
not the " appliances and means to boot " to win her to my 
couch ! and so I turned, and tossed, and groaned — and 
finally turned out. But it is due to " Train & Co," that 
this matter be explained, lest not only sleep be frightened 
from my couch, but a stampede should take place among 
the dollars now wending their way to their pockets. 

I had not made up my mind to take this packet until the 
day she was advertised to sail, and then the state rooms 
were all taken up, except a small one. This I took all to 
myself; but on this very day Be v. Mr. Thurston, of Maine, 
came up to take passage for Europe, and he could not go in 
this ship unless I gave him a part of my cuddy ; this I joy- 
fully did, both for his sake and my own, for a compagnon 
du voyage with whom one is acquainted is a blessing not to 
be lightly esteemed. By dividing our mattresses after the 
first night we got on admirably. Father Thurston is a very 
sociable and agreeable companion, and I regarded it as a 
providential interference that he should be thus thrown 
into my company for this long, monotonous voyage. 

Let us return : Our first dinner found the table filled ; 
seven English passengers, (four ladies and three gentle- 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 5 

men,) with four American, the Captain and his lady, 
make up the company in the cabin. By a curious kind of 
affinity attraction, one side of the table was filled with 
Americans, some of whom happened to be yankees ! We 
had two young men who, with their father, had come over 
in the steamer Asia four weeks before, to see the country, 
with a view to taking up their residence in it. Filled to the 
lips with the froth of royalty, they hurried on from Boston 
to Burlington, Vt., and thence to Hamilton, Canada, saw 
the country^ " made notes of it," hurried back to Boston, 
the father getting back in season to take the Asia on her 
return trip, and the sons with us. And such a country ! 
not a decent thing in it. "Why, sir," said one of the 
ladies, (an aunt and a niece who came with them,) "we 
have not seen a joint of roast beef on the table since we 
came to Boston!" "But," said I, "madam, it is our 
custom to place these dishes on the side table, and serve 
them as they are called for ; did you call, madam, for these 
articles? " " La, no ; we saw nothing but a little hash." 
" Americans, madam, are not so ostentatious ; there is less 
glitter and tinsel and more of the gold ; less flourish of plate 
and livery and servants and more of the substantial. At 
what house did you stop, madam?" The elder of the 
young men replied, " We went first to the Adams House, 
and then after a week to the Marlboro'." And no roast 
meat at either ? And now think of that. These green 
ones go home (if I do not cure them by the way) and 
publish all abroad, that in America they never eat roast 
1* 



6 RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

meat, but live on "a little hasli! " Thus we are carica- 
tured by tbe tourists of the Old World, who come among 
us with the least possible knowledge of their own country, 
and less of any other, prejudiced, bigoted, and stupid, their 
aristocratic olfactories snuffing vulgarity and barbarism on 
every breeze, their associates while with us but fleecing 
cabmen and saucy bootblacks, and then returning, report, 
" the Americans are a vulgar people, and live on hash /" 
Now these young men had seen no part of England but 
their own county and the city of London, and so deplora- 
bly ignorant were they of the geography of our country as 
to suppose that they had seen the most of it when they had 
passed through Massachusetts and Vermont into Upper 
Canada ! I took a map of the United States, one day, and 
spreading it upon the table endeavored to give them some 
idea of the extent of territory which they had not seen. 
They opened then- eyes in wonder : ' ' Possible ! great coun- 
try — must see it — wish we had stopped longer — shall 
return," &c. 

An amusing incident occurred at the table one day, illus- 
trating the prejudice of some foreigners against every thing 
American. A piece of fine cheese lay before us ; taking 
the knife, I said, " Shall I cut you a bit of cheese, Mr. 
P.?" *' No," said he; '' ive never eat cheese with j)ie 
or pudding, and then, it is not eatable — you'll see cheese 
when you reach England ! " "But this is fine cheese," 
said I ; * ' it is delicious. ' ' He tasted it. ' ' Not fit to eat. " 
" But this may be an English cheese." " Not a bit of it 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 7 

— you'll see cheese." "Captain," said I, "where was 
this cheese purchased ? " He appealed to the steward — 
•' Liverpool, sir." You should have seen our side of the 
table. If these upstarts are not older when they reach 
England, then there is no power in time ! 

But I have wandered a little ; but such is spray ; let us 
return to 

THE BECKONING. 

Your readers are all aware that when an individual ven- 
tures out upon the sea, there is something else to pay beside 
the money for his passage. Here an independent power 
holds dominion, and no certificate from ship proprietors, nor 
passport from the Honorable Secretary of State, can bar 
these claims. 

I said at our first dinner the table was well filled ; the 
next day, however, there were some empty seats. It was 
whispered around that the Old Man of the Ocean was on 
board, and was taking tickets, and, sure enough, we soon 
heard the responses to his inquiries in a number of the 
state rooms. In some cases the demand was at once met 
without a word of demur, but there was a number of Yan- 
kees on board, and with characteristic caution, and an eye 
to the adage, " a penny saved," &c., they haggled with 
the old fellow for a reduction of the bill. 

But, inexorable as Shylock, he insisted on immediate and 
full payment ; and he usually carried his point. There was 
one case on board that ought to have moved a stone — an 
old English lady who had been in the States three years, 



8 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

and was now returning ; she seemed to have fallen mostly 
into the old chap's debt, for not a day of the voyage hut 
she was dunned. I could account for this only in one 
way ; with true pride and prejudice she longed for the flesh- 
pots of home. *' Indeed," she would exclaim, " she hoped 
soon to see some beef and mutton, for she had not seen any 
since she had been in the States." 

I fancied I could hear the old collector mutter, as he 
laid his finger on his nose, "I'll fit her to enjoy it ! " 
Now, all this time, I, that is to say, your present corres- 
pondent, was either reclining upon the transom, reading, or 
walking the deck and laughing in my sleeve, as one and 
another were walked up "to the captain's office to settle," 
for as yet I had denied all knowledge of any claim of old 
Nep. upon me, and in vain did the old man hold up before 
my eyes certain little slips of parchment on which were 
simply written, "I. 0. U.," with a long mark as a signa- 
ture. I blustered, and affirmed them to be vile forgeries ; 
albeit I was conscious that I had passed his turnpike many 
a time and oft, and the obliging old gentleman had always 
passed me along, as one of the corps editorial is passed 
upon our railroads, with a single " all right, sir," and I had 
not dreamed that all this time he had been treasuring up 
these items and reserving them for a future, final, and 
furious reckoning. But I resolved to stand out, and, 
assuming the independence of one who has been through 
chancery, I bluffed him off for a number of days ; but at 
each visit he looked more thunderingly at me ; I also fan- 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. f 

cied I heard something ahoiit "unfathomed caves," " dark 
depths," — "my officer, John Shark." But I had no 
fear, but ate, and drank, and slept, as usual. But it is in 
vain for a debtor to endeavor to stave off the day of reck- 
oning, or to think " to sleep and forget his poverty ; " it 
will come at last. On Saturday, the old grumbler came on 
board in a terrible passion, storming and raving like a Jew 
robbed of his rights ; he was accompanied by an officer, 
^^olus, whom he ordered to seize this luckless wight at once 
and off with him. Matters were growing serious, and I 
endeavored to put him off by compromising the matter ; in 
vain — he had something else to do besides following a 
delinquent debtor so long, and then, giving me a terrible 
blow in the head, he brought me to my hands and knees, 
and then, 0, 7no7i ami, you should have seen me meeting 
old claims ! and all this time the old grisly beard stood by, 
saying, ''a good fellow — knew you were honest — hard 
to submit, eh? — no one likes to part with deposits — 
hard, but fair," and then, when the full tale was made up, 
the old curmudgeon oiFered to treat me with a glass of salt 
ivater, and then slipped out of the cabin window, laughing, 
and saying, "you'll do." Such was the effect of this 
visit upon me that I could not hold up my head in com- 
pany for three days ; it was mortifying to be dunned so 
before strangers. But it is over now, and Nep. and 
myself are on the best terms possible, only I can see a sly 
curl in the corner of his mouth, when he comes on board, 
which seems to say, " You'll be older." 



10 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

There is little in a voyage across the Atlantic interesting 
either to the voyager or the reader of his jottings ; nothing 
occurs to create interest. Our first Sabbath was very 
stormy, and we could have no religious service on deck; 
but we have had each day prayers in the cabin, and most of 
the passengers have attended with us. Our second Sabbath 
was a beautiful day, with light winds ; we saw on this day 
seventeen sail, all large ships but two. Rev. Mr. Thurs- 
ton preached on deck to a goodly company. A number of 
Catholics listened with attention. We have on board, crew 
and passengers, in all, eighty souls. When the weather 
permits we have evening prayers on deck, and a good 
number attend. Our third Sabbath found me sick with 
dysentery and unable to sit up, so that Mr. Thurston 
preached again ; but the attendance was thin, owing to the 
unfavorable state of the weather. 

We are now out three weeks ; we hoped to reach Liver- 
pool in twenty days from Boston ; but we have had so many 
calms, that our progress has been slow ; yet this, so far, 
has not been a long passage ; to-morrow we hope to be in 
the channel. 

Land ho ! Joyful cry after being so long at sea ; and 
yet, we cannot say we have been long, — only twenty days. 
We are permitted at last to catch a glimpse of auld Ire- 
land ; but it is so thick that our view is indistinct. 

All this day we have been just moving and no more — 
light breezes or dead calms. But we have had an incident. 
Just at sunset we saw a boat on our larboard bow steering 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 11 

directly for us, with but little wind, but assisted by oars. 
She was soon within hailing distance, and we saw she con- 
tained six images in the shape of the genus homo. One of 
them stood up in the stern sheets, and while his rags, like 
pennons, fluttered in the breeze, he hailed, " Sheep a hi." 
" Aye, aye," answered our mate. " What sheep is ye ? " 
" R. C. Winthrop," said the mate. " Where do ye come 
from? " '' Boston." "What's the state of the counthry ? " 
** All quiet." By this time our visitors were along side, 
and such a looking set of human bipeds we never before 
saw. We threw them a rope, and two of them came on 
board. They had about a peck of small potatoes, which 
we bought, and some small fish. We learned that we 
were off Baltimore, Ireland. I desired to go ashore with 
these fellows, as they offered to carry me in, nine miles, for 
five dollars, and pass through Ireland and on to Liverpool. 
But our captain said I should never see land, and so he 
vetoed my plan. We gave these fellows all the old clothes 
we could muster, a quantity of tobacco, and a bottle of 
rum, and sent them off. Alas, poor Ireland, whose line of 
coast we have been dimly viewing to-day, what wretched- 
ness is thine ! What has the gospel of Christ done for 
these men ? What have their priests done for them ? De- 
graded them still more than they were .-You may charge 
this upon government as long as you please, but the differ- 
ence in the condition of the inhabitants of the North and 
South of Ireland claims another source for their ills ; and 
that must be theu* religion. It is without enterprise — 



12 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

without spirit — without i^ower ; it teaches submission to 
priests and monks, and no more. And this process breaks 
down the spirit, and strangles hope. When will the day 
of her redemption come ? Not, I fear, until a change 
comes in her church relations. 

But I bid you good night, and seek my crib and sleep. 



LETTER II. 



My Dear S : 

On the night of the 20th of July, 1850, 1 was lying on 
the cabin floor of the fine ship R. C. Winthrop, Captain 
Sampson, master, striving to catch some sleep. I was on 
the floor, because my state room Was so close, and I was so 
nervous, I wanted room to roll; and a narrow box, two 
feet wide, ycleped a berth, aflforded no fitting opportunity 
for so delightful exercise. Well, there I lay ; rolling to 
one side I brought myself against the partition of the 
cabin ; rolling to the other side, and I was mixed up with 
the legs of the table, which, being screwed down, could not 
get out of the way. 

It was now not far from midnight, and the ship was not 
far from midway of the Irish Channel, and between Holy- 
head and " the Skerries," or about sixty miles from Liver- 
pool. We had now been almost four days in the Channel, 
and still it was calm — a dead calm. Smooth as a mirror 
was the water by day, and bright by night with the dancing 

light of the smiling skies above us. Friend S , were 

2 13 



14 EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

you ever there ? I mean not in tlie Irish Channel, but at 
sea, in a long, lingering, monotonous calm ? How, at such 
time, one would willingly wjestle with a hurricane, or smile 
in the fac6 of a tempest ! Twenty-four days from Boston ; 
six more than we had reckoned upon ! Alas, it was 
" reckoning without our host ! " 

But let me return. As I lay there, between sleeping 
and waking, now dreaming of storms, and now contriving 
a small steam engine to be placed in the " run " of sailing 
ships, with a screw wheel astern, I imagined I heard a 
sound like the distant blowing of a grampus, or the deep, 
stertorous breathing of an asthmatic; and soon I heard 
" voices of the night; " and then we struck something; but 
how this could be was a puzzle, as we were lying still, and it 
did not occur to a man half asleep that possibly something 
might have struck us. But something evidently was the 
matter, for there was hurrying to and fro, and confusion, 
and creaking of blocks, as the yards were squared round; 
and in a few moments the second officer put his head into 
the captain's state room, and sung out, " Steam tug along 
side, sir." Ah, good news! I saw through it, now. I 
recollected the day before the scene off Holyhead ; our 
captain had been hanging out some little strips of bunting, 
of various colors ; and then, looking through a glass, I had 
seen, on the highest point of Holyhead, some great wooden 
arms, moving up and down, like some doughty politician, 
sawing the air with his awkward arms ; and heard them say 
they wf re telegraphing. Yes, thanks to science and art — 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 15 

to tbe men wbo do head work — to Captain JMarryatt, for 
his system of marine telegra'ph. Our pleasant captain 
had, by three little flags, told the man on the top of the 
mountain of Holyhead to haste and tell the agent of 
** Train & Co.'s " packet line, who was sitting in his of&ce, 
No. 5 Water street, Liverpool, that the packet ship R. C. 
Winthrop was becalmed in the Channel, and to send down 
a steam tug to tow her up to the dock. The agent, in ten 
minutes, had the information, and writing a line, sent his 
man to the office of the " Steam Tug Co.; " and in ten 
minutes more, the little black, snorting Hercules was dash-- 
ing down the Mersey, to find the ship designated ; and, 
among many others, he knew her by her lights ; and, my 
sleepy reader, this was what struck us, and disturbed my 
dreaming. And now a slight ripple is heard under the 
cabin windows, indicating progress ; and the dull pufF, 
puff, away ahead, indicating power. I will e'en sleep 
again, and let matters work ; for it is dark, and I can see 
nothing, and am weary of deck-walking, albeit there is true 
poetry in it. Mynheer Doctor, when you have passed the 
ordeal of sea-sickness, and the winds are all sleeping — 
^olus and Zephyrus, and Boreas and Auster, with all the 
lesser gods and goddesses of the genus ventus — when the 
huge ship lies, like a struck leviathan, rolling, in his last 
agony, from side to side, in the long, unsleeping ocean 
swell — the rising and falling of old Ocean's bosom in his 
heavy sleep, breathing — when all but the watch on deck 
are " turned in," and he is sound asleep on the forecastle, 



16 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

and the man at the wheel dreams of " home and all its 
pleasures" — when the skies are cloudless, and seem to 
have brought millions of new lights just for this occasion — 
then to wrap yourself in your ample Scotch maud, and, 
stealing out' upon the deck, pace back and forth for an 
hour, alone with God and night : 0, this is poetry ! How 
thought expands ! how the heart swells ! how the past 
comes crowding around you, with all its scenes of pain and 
pleasure ! Faces you have not looked upon for many years, 
and will never again this side the dim future, seem to smile 
upon you over the tafFrail, from behind the almost motion- 
less sails, and out of the companion-way ; all around you 
they gather, and you hear the well remembered tones ; old 
household words are filling your ears, and sanctified mem- 
ories your heart ; and nothing there is around you — no 
sight nor sound to distract your thought or disturb your 
soul. 0, glorious hours ! precious scenes ! Here is the 
poetry of feeling. One such hour is worth a life among 
brick walls, and in the noise, and hum, and confusion of a 
crowded city. Poetry in a city ! impossible ! What man 
ever either felt or wrote it in a noisy, dirty, crowded city ? 
I got a little sleep toward morning ; but as soon as it 
was light, we all hurried up on deck to see England ; for 
we were in sight of England — old England — ' ' merrie 
England" — land of the brave old hearts of oak, and 
roast beef — - land of the Puritans, and plum puddings — 
land of majesty, and mutton chops — great in her littleness, 
and little in her greatness; teai's and taxes, wealth and 



RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. Jf 

woe ; rewards without labor, and labor without reward — 
whose benevolence is world-wide, and a world of forgotten 
starvelings at home — our father-land, yet the scene of our 
persecution and banishment. England ! there, just on our 
larboard bow — a low line of coast, running on far ahead, 
half hidden by smoke and mist. And now we see it, but 
with different emotions. There is a Scotch gentleman and 
his intelligent lady, who have resided four years in South 
America, and are now going home. The hills and lakes of 
" auld Scotland " are the principal images in their minds 
as they gaze on the dim outline of England. Here is a 
group of two gentlemen and two ladies — relations, who, a 
few weeks since, ran over to America to see the country. 
They came, they saw, they were satisfied, and now were 
rejoicing to see the shores of old England. Here is anothej 
group, Americans, and they are excited with a first view 
of the land of so many stirring scenes and mighty events. 
On the forward deck are some forty or fifty returning emi- 
grants — Scotch and Irish — some sick of the new world, 
some returning to visit friends, and others to take friends 
out with them to the " land of milk and honey." On the 
right hand lies Wales, and we are running along close to 
the coast. The lofty mountains are looking down upon us 
in solemn grandeur. There is old Snowdon, the highest 
mountain in Wales, whose hoary head is now bright in the 
rays of the rising sun. There, just on o^ir quarter, lies the 
island of Anglesea, separated from the main land of Wales 
by the Menai .Straits, over which has been thrown that 
2* 



18 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

wonderful, Iron, tubular bridge, the wonder of the age. 
One hundred and four feet above high water mark have 
these immense iron tubes, constmcted of iron plates riveted 
together, been raised by mechamcal forces, and dropped 
upon the great stone piers, in perfect safety ; and now im- 
mense trains of carsgottbrmd'ering through them daily, car- 
rying a weight of hundreds of tons. 

We are now entering the mouth of the Mersey, and the 
•^ores are drawing nearer together. Low, level, and sandy, 
i;hey do not strike one very favorably. It is Sabbath morn- 
ing — calm, bright, beautiful — and we are drawing near 
to Liverpool. Steamer after steamer comes up with and 
passes us, loaded with passengers and freight ; from Cork, 
Belfast, Dublin, Limerick, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, they 
come, dashing through the water. Thirteen passed us in 
about an hour. Now they begin to come from the other 
quarter, filled with masses of human beings, out on a 
pleasure excursion, to spend the Sabbath in some of the 
pleasant retreats about the Channel, and then back to 
recommence the heavy toil of the week. 

Look ahead ! AVhat is that — a mass of smoke, like a 
volcano ? It is Liverpool, just seen in the pitchy curtain 
hanging around it. Rapidly we came up with it, and in a 
short time this great commercial city lay before us. On 
we drove to our dock ; and while the clock is striking nine, 
we are striking the corner of the Waterloo dock. A mass 
of magnificent ships lies in these docks, which extend for 
four miles in front of the city. But this was a morning of 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 19 

mourning. All the American flags were at half mast. & 
The mail steamer, which arrived the night before, had 
brought the sad tidings that the President of the United 
States was dead. We went ashore saddened and heavy of "^ 
heart. 

Liverpool is a city of 150,000 inhabitants. One-fourth 
part of all the commerce of the kingdom is found here. 
The streets are wide and clean, the shops elegant, and the 
buildings generally in good taste. But this city has come 
into existence by her commerce, and owes her present posi- 
tion mainly to the United States. In the reign of Queen 
Bess, the borough of Liverpool was too poor to pay taxes ; 
and a petition for abatement winds up thus : " From your 
poor and oppressed subjects of the borough of Liverpool." 
Not so now ; her wealth abounds, and Liverpool rivals 
London. 

As soon as the ship was fairly docked, we started to find 
Dr. Raffle's church, as we had a strong curiosity to hear 
him preach. We soon found the church, in Duke street, 
but did not find the Doctor in the church ; but a nephew 
of his supplied his place. Some readers may remember 
that this was the church in which the eloquent Spencer min- 
istered — a young and very promising man, who was re- 
garded as another Summerfield. His end, to human 
appearance, was untimely. He went to bathe, as usual, 
early one morning, and was found drowned. The present 
incumbent was called to fill his place. Any one, at all 
familiar with the British pulpit, need not be told that 



20 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. . 

the Doctor has long enjoyed an enviable popularity among 
his people ; but latterly his health has failed somewhat. 
He has become so corpulent as to be a burden to himself ; 
and, of course, he cannot move about among his people as 
formerly. His substitute gave us a good sermon from man- 
uscript. I looked to hear some fine specimen of choir sing- 
ing, but I was happily disappointed. When the officiating 
clergyman gave out the hymn, a gentleman, seeing that I 
was a stranger there, brought me a hymn book. A small 
choir commenced singing that fine old tune, Duke street, 
the whole congregation joining in with a will; and it was 
like the " sound of many waters ; " it was inspiring — so 
unlike our puerile style of singing in this country, where a 
score of individuals, who cannot appreciate the beautiful 
sentiments of the hymns, troll them in tones which are 
mere exercises in rhythm and harmony, while the congre- 
gation, with their backs turned upon the minister, labor to 
listen, while God's praise is being sung for them, (I may 
here remark, that I found the same good practice prevailing 
in all places where I worshipped while on my tour. I sin- 
cerely hope the barbarous practice of exclusive choir sing- 
ing may soon be abolished in our churches.) 

We had a curiosity to see a specimen of the " Ragged 
Schools " of England, and a gentleman whom we met in a 
3Iethodist chapel kindly offered to be our chaperon. At 
seven o'clock we accordingly started to find the place of 
gathering. A short walk brought us to the building in 
which one of these singular gatherings was found. As WQ 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 21 

entered the door, we found ourselves in a small hall, filled 
with rude benches, and almost half full of children, from 
five or six years to fifteen. A clergyman of the Scotch 
Church was addressing the school with much energy. He 
seemed to have secured the attention of the children ; for 
all eyes were on him, only as occasionally some one, un- 
used to restraint, would begin to talk to a sitter-by, when 
the superintendent would stop, and threaten to turn him 
out, or go out himself, if he could not have order. And 
now for the scholars. They were just as they came from 
the streets, from the ditches, from the docks — unwashed, 
uncombed, almost undressed. 

" Black spirits and white, blue spirits and gray, 
Mingle, mingle, mingle." 

Query : Had Shakspeare ever seen a ragged school ! He 
could not have hit it more truthfully. But here was mind ; 
here was immortality ; here was work to be done, and work 
that would pay. Who can tell what splendid genius lies 
hidden under that coal dust ? who can tell whether those 
rags may not cover mental machinery which shall yet jostle 
the world ? There they may not rise, for the permission is 
not granted ; but here, they may seek these shores ; and 
can you say, that a future judge, or member of Congress, 
or chief magistrate, even, may not be found among those 
dirty but bright little fellows ? I was really surprised at 
the ready and correct answers returned by many to the 
questions proposed. 



22 KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

This is a most beneficial movement. A superintendent 
is hired to take charge of one or more schools. A call is 
then made upon young persons of both sexes to come in 
and spend an hour in gratuitous teaching. All children 
are then invited to come in just as they are ; if poor, or 
ragged, or friendless, or homeless, they are urged in, and 
taught. The instruction is mainly moral ! but I think 
reading is also taught. This will exert a good influence 
upon the thousands of vagrant children whose home is in 
the streets of the great cities of England. But such a sys- 
tem can hardly be brought into successful operation here, as 
our excellent system of common schools secures to all au 
opportunity for acc^uiring an education ; while our Sabbath 
Schools draw in the most of the juvenile population, except 
the Catholic, and those we cannot reach. Our vagrants are 
made up of this class. On the whole, I was much pleased 
with my visit, and said to myself, as I left, success to the 
" Ragged Schools.''^ 



LETTER III. 



Waterloo Hotel, Liverpool. ] 
July 24, 1850. ' | 



Bro. S : 

Apter taking rooms at this hotel, we inquired of a 
waiter for a Methodist chapel, and learning that there was 
one near by, we soon found it ; but no afternoon service 
was held, the time being devoted to Sabbath School instruc- 
tion. This we found to be one of the oldest chapels in the 
city, having been built in 1790-1. Mr. Wesley was to 
have opened it, but he died just as it was completed, and 
Dr. Coke came down and performed the service. I had 
no sooner introduced myself as one of the family, than an 
aged brother asked, " Do you know Bro. Caughey? Many 
a good sermon," said he, "has he preached in that pulpit." 
And here let me say, that in my excursions around in this 
vicinity, I find the members of the societies still breathing 
the fragrance of his memory, and expressing a desire to see 
him again, but 7iot now ! The radicals, so called, have 
circulated the report that he is soon to revisit England. 

23 



24 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 



^ 



But let him remain at present at home. There is here at 
present great anxiety, and the approaching session of the 
Conference, to be held in London on the last day of this 
month, is anticipated with trembling. I was to-day con- 
versing with one of the circuit preachers in the city of Man- 
chester, and learned that some trouble is anticipated, and 
the end of the excitement relative to Dr. Dixon "is not 
yet." He is suspected of cherishing strong sympathy with 
the reformers. I see, by the - Wesley an Times, that the 
Doctor has recommended that the Conference sit with open 
doors, as our general custom now is, and that members have 
the right of trial by their peers, instead of the "leaders' 
meeting," and of an appeal to the " district meeting," &;c. 
Now this is not all smoke, though you must not take all the 
statements of the reformers without abatement. But 
nothing is more certain than this, that the people here are 
earnestly looking for redemption and advance, both politi- 
cally and ecclesiastically. " The hour is come ; " you see 
it, you hear it every where. Men speak of it to us, I mean 
to us Americans, softly but sternly. " That is to support 
the growi7ig family thrown upon us," said a cab driver 
the other day, when something was said of a tax on car- 
riage wheels of a certain height. There is a fearful under- 
swell, which, at no distant day, will break up through the 
rotten crust of a lordly aristocracy, as the billows rend the 
solid ice in the Arctic regions, sweeping it away with a roar 
of indignant scorn. So it be peacefully done, let it be 
quickly done ! 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 25 

A gentleman by the name of Pryde, whom I met at the 
chapel above named, took us with him to his truly princely 
dwelling to tea. He informed us that the '' Blue Coat 
Hospital " scholars had a service in their chapel, and 
recommended it to us as a matter of interest. We put 
ourselves under his direction, and soon found ourselves 
entering the court formed by the buildings occupied by 
the hospitalers. The chapel was a long hall, on one side 
of which were seats for visitors, and on the other for the 
scholars. 

Let me give you a brief sketch of the school. It was 
founded in 1708, by a benevolent individual, for the ben- 
efit of poor children, to the number of forty boys and ten 
girls. The applicant must be seven years of age, a resi- 
dent in the Liverpool parish, an orphan, or at least the 
father deceased. Donations have been made from time to 
time, until the number of scholars at the present time is 
three hundred and fifty ; two hundred and fifty boys, and 
one hundred girls. Every thing about the buildings is in 
the most perfect order. The dress of the boys is after the 
fashion of the age in which the school was founded, and 
gives the name to it — the Blue Coat School. Along 
Quaker coat of blue, with trousers and vest of the same, 
metal buttons, a white cravat, with bands like a clergyman, 
and a round, blue cap without a visor — this dress on chil- 
dren gives them a most uncouth appearance. We had not 
been long seated, when some two or three of the pupils 
came in, and one of them commenced playing a slow volun- 
3 



26. EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

S\[JQ. Co6^- - , 

tary on the organ, when we immediately heard a slow and 
measured tread upon the stairway, and the children came 
in two and two, close to each other, marching in beautiful 
order ; they filed on before us, passing into their usual 
seats until all were in, and then at a signal from the head 
master, who sat in front, they took their seats. A lad 
about ten years of age now went into the reading desk, and 
opening the prayer book, gave out with great solemnity and 
propriety a hymn, thus : " Let us sing to the honor and 
glory of Grod a hymn," on such a page ; all the children 
joined in this most sweetly. The little chaplain then went 
through with all the evening service of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church, without a mistake or blunder ; the children 
all chanting the responses. Then some twenty-five of them 
were catechized by one of the number. The children then 
left the hall in the same order as they entered, and repaired 
to the refectory below, where long tables were spread for 
supper. On each plate lay a large slice of good bread and 
a good piece of cheese, with a tumbler of milk. As they 
came to the tables they stood back to them, until a little 
fellow about eight years of age mounted a platform and said 
grace with great seriousness, when they seated themselves 
and fell too with a will. * 

Now what was remarkable in this exhibition was, that 
through all this service I did not see a smile, nor one speak- 
ing to another ; not the least indecorum. A most severe 
training has reduced them to a state of discipline as perfect 
as the military system of Prussia. Indeed, it seemed to 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 27 

me tliat all the vivacity and happiness of childhood had 
been by some forcing process expelled from them, and they 
appeared like a part of a former generation, who had 
shrunk up in the grave and were now galvanized into 
a mechanical life. 

A few mornings after, I met them in the streets between 
six and seven o'clock, taking their morning march with a 
band of really fine music, composed of members of the 
school from eight to fourteen years of age, and I am sure 
they need not be ashamed of the performance ; but how I 
longed to cut the cords that bound them, and send them 
scampering over the green ! Such a system must be 
destructive to both mind and body. 

There is not much to be seen in this city, and travellers 
usually leave it immediately, and pass to some other points. 
Monday morning, at 11 o'clock, we took a steamer for 
Menai Straits, in Wales, separating the island of Anglesea 
from the main land. Our object was to see the great 
Tubular Bridge, the wonder of the age. We reached 
Bangor about 4, P. M. ; landed near the suspension bridge, 
and in a smart shower got into a horse-cart and rode up to 
the new bridge. The second tube for the second track is 
all completed except one tube, which is done and lies upon 
the shore ready to be floated and raised to its final position. 
It was to be raised on the Thursday following our visit. 
But how can I give you an idea of this wonderful structure, 
the greatest work of art of modern times ? 

Many of your readers may have seen a minute descrip- 



28 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

tion of it published not long since in LittelFs Living Age. 
I was completely misled by that article, as I supposed the 
tube to be circular. When we speak of a tube, we always 
conceive it to be round, like a gun barrel ; but it is 
square, being about a third higher than the width ; the 
sides single, but the top and bottom double plates of thick 
boiler iron riveted together — the space between the parts 
about eighteen inches. 

Now imagine a tube of iron a hundred and fifty feet 
long, made as strong as iron can make it, of sufficient size 
to permit a locomotive and a train of cars to pass through 
it, raised to a height of one hundred and four feet above 
high water mark ; so high that the tallest ships in the 
English navy may pass under it ; and you have some faint 
idea of the greatness of this work. There are four tubes on 
each side, or track ; two of them, those next the shore, are 
built in their places by raising staging, all the others aire 
raised from the water. We walked out upon the top of 
the bridge, and then went back a mile and took the cars 
and rode through it. The scenery around the Straits is 
magnificent. The mountains of Wales, rising in sublime 
grandeur on every hand, remind one of the White Moun- 
tains of New Hampshire, while the cultivation of the vales 
and hillsides is carried to a high state of perfection. From 
the bridge we rode to the oldest city in the kingdom, 
Chester, the supposed residence of Noah ! By whom or 
when it was founded, history and tradition are silent. 

A Roman legion, the 20th, called the Victorious, were 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 29 

certainly stationed here, and the Britons were defeated 
under its walls by the king of Northumberland, in the year 
607. The walls are in a state of good preservation, and a 
fine walk we had upon the top of them before the inhabi- 
tants were stirring much ; the circuit of the wall is about 
two miles. The river Dee here separates England and 
Wales. This is by far the most interesting city to an anti^ 
quarian in all England ; running back into remote antiquity, 
and preserving its ancient form and appearance. There is 
a tower on the wall, upon which the unhappy and erring 
King Charles I. stood and saw the Roundheads cut up and 
put to rout his army on the plain beyond. With what 
indescribable emotions must he have seen his last hope melt 
in mist and darkness ; and yet he would not be wise ! But 
we must remember this fact, he was trained and educated a 
king; and the sentiment, "the king can do no wrong," 
was engraven upon his heart. The same system still pre- 
vails here ; from the time that the heir apparent to the 
throne can lisp, he is taught that he possesses blood supe- 
rior to common mortals ; his infallibility is impressed upon 
his mind ; he must be addressed as *'your Royal High- 
ness." " Will your Royal Highness take pap ? " " Will 
your Royal Highness sleep?" He comes at last to be- 
lieve himself a higher order of being, and when power i? 
placed in his hands he will abuse it and become a tyrant. 

Poor Charles I. ! Cromwell did not condescend even 
to say, " Will your Royal Highness have your head cut 
off?" Nothing annoys an American so much as this 
3* 



so RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

ceaseless worship of royalty seen here. Why, I frightened 
a man the other day in Manchester by my assumption of 
quality. I had applied for admission to a silk factory, and 
was refused. " Why," said the director to whom I ap- 
plied, "we refused Prince Albert's cousin!" "Why, 
man," said I, "what of that — I am as good as Prince 
A.'s cousin." The fellow stared as though he expected to 
see some royal blood spirt from my nostrils ! 

The great object of attraction and interest here in Ches- 
ter is the Cathedral. This was originally a monastery, 
and was built during the reigns of Henry YI., VII. and 
VIII. The length is three hundred and seventy-two feet, 
the nave one hundred and seventy-five feet, the transept 
two hundred feet, the choir one hundred and ten feet ; the 
height of the tower one hundred and twenty-seven feet. 

This Cathedral has no monuments, but the dead of a 
date as early as 875 were brought here to be sheltered 
from the sacrilegious touch of the Danes. The floor is 
filled with the mute marble memorials of the unconscious 
sleepers. We attended prayers here in one of the chapels 
at 7, A. M., and the vastness of the place, the crowding 
memories of past ages, and the rolling echoes of the voices 
of the chanters, filled the soul with awe. Here kings and 
queens had knelt to worship, and the mailed and grim war- 
rior had marched through these aisles. The iron heels of 
Cromwell's Roundheads had rattled over these stones, and 
the marks of their battle-axes and halberds are still to be 
seen. The painted windows are exquisite, preserving all the 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 31 

freshness of the original. The walls were built of hewn or 
faced red sandstone, and yet, such has been the effect of 
time, in its steady siege of ages, that the appearance of the 
wall on the outside is that of rounded stones ! The streets 
are little changed, and the low, sharp roofed shops, with the 
gable end to the street, carry you back for one thousand 
years, and you can easily fancy you see the groups of living 
beings thronging the doorways and driving their trades. A 
beautiful modern built bridge spans the Dee, with a single 
arch of one hundred feet. Our run through Wales was 
most interesting to us, as we caught a glimpse of much of a 
former age, though we had not time for minute inspection. 
We passed through Conway, a walled city, with a castle 
built by Edward I., called the " castle hatcher." It was 
interesting to spend only a few moments gazing upon such 
ruins. 

We saw two country seats of England's aristocracy, in 
Anglesea, as we sailed up the Straits of Menai. The first 
was the estate and mansion of Williams Bulkley, called here 
an Earl! He had ground enough covered with trees to 
raise bread to sustain hundreds of Eno;land's starving 
children. 

Another is the mansion of the Marquis of Anglesea ; 
and a monument, a fluted granite column, stands on a 
height near the " Britannia Bridge," in honor of this same 
Marquis ! It seems the poor fellow lost one of his legs in 
a race for glory across the blood-wet field of Waterloo, and 
his country reared this pile to remind him of her gratitude 



32 RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

when he stumps past it. This is glory I Just across the 
Straits is seen the new and elegant castle of Penryn, built 
and occupied by a gentleman of that name, who is a cele- 
brated naturalist, and spends much time and money in 
improving agricultural science. 

But I am forced to stop ; only saying that I was most 
heartily glad when the ride from Menai Bridge to Liver- 
pool was accomplished ! 



LETTER IT. 



LivERPOoi-, July, 1850. 

Friend S : 

In my last I gave you some notes of things in Liver- 
pool, BXidJiUed my sheet ere I had eased my mind. You 
must know, mon ami, that when one travels in a strange 
land he marks a thousand things which he would not notice 
at all at home, even if he saw their like : so with me. I 
came to see, and am determined to keep my eyes open — 
to " read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest," if dyspepsy 
do not seize me, all things in general, and some things in 
particular. 

My first view of an English Hotel. In the old histories 
and romances, how often had I read of these homes of the 
traveller, and associated with them foaming tankards, smok- 
ing roast beef, bustling landlord and landlady, stage- 
coaches thundering up to the door, and the blast of the 
guard's horn, and confusion worse confounded, trunks and 
bandboxes, and squalling babies, and treading on corns, 

33 



34 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

and grumbling fat men, &c. Well, I did not enter in this 
way at all ; but quietly glided into the hall, without a 
particle of baggage, my kind conductor presenting me to 
the landlord as Mr. So and So, and it was oyer — I was in 
an English hotel. 

A window, or aperture, opened from the hall into a little 
back-room, which serves as an office and keeping-room for 
the family. At this window stands the " bar-maid," who 
takes your name, and selecting a room, rings for the cham- 
bermaid, who comes shuffling along, with an enormous 
night-cap on her head, with a border two or three inches 
wide, but neatly dressed : " Show the gentleman to 26." 
Allons, following the maid, you are soon ushered into your 
room. A curtained bed, a chest of drawers, a table with 
writing materials, a wash-stand with two decanters of 
water — 0, Dickens, Boz, or whatever name you answer 
to, how you complained that in Yankeedom one could 
not get water to wash his face ! If you had less than is 
offered in an English hotel, your complaints were just. 
Descending soon, and looking for a sitting or reading-room, 
a waiter showed me into the dining-room. " But," said I, 
" have you no common sitting-room ? " " None but this, 
sir." Here was a room of large size, fitted up with tables 
around the sides, each accommodating four persons. Here 
the eating, drinking, reading, and conversing are all done. 

As it was not meal-time, but one person was in the 
room ; and this was a man, the like of which is not often 
seen, reminding one of this passage in Shakspeare : 



KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 35 

" Sir Jolin, you live in great infamy." 

'' Fal. He that buckles him in my belt can not live in 

less." 

" Sher. But I mean your waste is great and your 

means slender." 

" Fal. I would my means were greater and my waist 
slenderer." 

And this second edition of Sir John was pouring down 
a mug of sack. 

Beer, you must know, is the common drink. The prac- 
tice here is universal, I learn by inquiry ; and no one thinks 
it wrong. Intemperance prevails to a great extent, and 
no one wakes up to the danger or the sufferings created 
thereby. No systematic effort is made as with us, and 
intemperance reigns triumphant. Old and young, men 
and women, rich and poor, all drink, and the government 
fattens on the excise. So it has been for ages, from the 
time of the brewing of the first beer and the discovery of 
alcohol to this present. In the time of Shakspeare Eng- 
land was a nation of drunkards : witness the old poet. 
Speaking of drinking, one of the characters in Hamlet asks, 

" Is it a custom 1 " 

" Ay, many is't. 

But to my mind, though I am native here, 

And to the manner born, it is a custom 

More honored in the breach than the observance. 

This heavy-headed revel, east and west, 

Makes us traduced and taxed of other nations ; 



36 EAMBLES IK EUROPE. 

They clepe us drunJcards, and with swinish phrase 
Soil our addition ; and, indeed, it takes 
From our achievements, though performed at height, 
; The pith and marrow of our attribute." 

And since I have landed here, and visited some impor- 
tant parts of this kingdom, or Queendom, I feel the truth 
of Cowper's description, in the fourth Book of the Task : 

" Pass where we may, through city or through town. 

Village or hamlet of this merry land, 

Though lean and beggared, every twentieth pace 

Conducts the unguarded nose to such a whiff 

Of stale debauch, forth issuing from the styes 

Which law has licensed, as makes temperance reel." 

* * * " ten thousand casks, 

For ever dribbling out their base contents, 

Touched by the Midas fingers of the state. 

Bleed gold for ministers to sport away. 

Drink and be mad, then : 't is your country bids ; 

Gloriously drunk, obey the important call : 

Her cause demands the assistance of your throats — 

Ye all can swallow, and she asks no more." 

Where am I ? The sight of this tun of heer led off my 
thoughts into another channel. 

In an English hotel there is no public table ; each sits 
'^own by himself, and munches his morsel alone. He calls 
for what he wants, and it is charged to his number, on 
much the same principle of our eating-rooms. On the 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 37 

whole, I rather liked this method. You are not hurried ; 
you can occupy the table all day, if you choose ; you can 
have any thing cooked you may fancy. But if you tvant ' 
retirement, you must seek it in your own room. You can 
have your meals taken to your room if you choose. Buf 
when you come to settle your bill — ay, there's the rub. 
" What dreams come o'er you, when you have shelled out 
the sovereign coin, must give you pause." You can board 
at the "Tremont," in Boston, or any other first class 
American hotel, and have three substantial meals, and 
waiting upon to boot, for one-third less than at an English 
hotel. 

I did not understand the philosophy of employing female 
clerks, or, in other phrase, "bar-maids," till I settled my 
first bill. If it had been a man, why, I could have berated 
him soundly ; but a woman — how one would look scold- 
ing a woman ! And she gives your bill so gracefully, 
smiles upon you so mildly, thanks you so tenderly, why, 
you feel like postponing it for the present. Formerly it 
was the custom to fee all the servants ; but so many Yan- 
kees travel now, who cannot remember the chambermaids 
and boots, in the popular way, but would say, "0, yes, 
I '11 try to think of you if I do n't forget it," that the cus- 
tom now is to put an item in your bill like this : " Service 
per day, two shillings." This is the same old way which 
prevailed ages ago. It reminds one of Sir John FalstafF's 
bill, which Prince Henry, his chum, stole from his pocket 
while asleep : — 
4 



38 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

" Item : a capon, 2s. ''Id. 

" Item : sauce, 4c?. 

" Item : sack, 2 gallons, 55. 8c?. 

** Item : anchovies and sack after supper, 2s. 6c?. 

" Item : bread, J penny." 

Now, if you are travelling economically, or if you are not 
overflush, you must stop and ponder wliat you can afford 
to eat. One would laugh at such things, a la Dickens ; 
but who would laugh at old England ! The man who 
would do it, would laugh at his poor old grandfather, with 
his gouty feet rolled up in flannel, and a patch over an eye, 
and his dexter hand in a sling. No, no, let old England 
alone. She has done good in her day ; and if grown parsi- 
monious in her old age, it is human nature. All English- 
men, from *' John O'Grroat's house to Land's End," make 
it a point, and a great one, to asperse and belabor the char- 
acter of the Yankee nation for their money-getting propen- 
sities ; and we will not deny, but affirm the truth of the 
allegation. But what followeth ? Suppose it were true, as 
that twaddler, Leigh Hunt, says, * ' that the whole Atlantic 
coast is lined with one huge counter," behind which the 
Yankees stand catching the coppers, is it not by fair trade 
— open, honest trade ? And it is their glory that each 
and all have the same chance. America is not one grand 
show hox ! And when an Englishman comes among us we 
show him our lakes, and prairies, and rivers, and moun- 
tains, and the Falls of Niagara, and Plymouth Rock, and 
Lexington, and Bunker Hill, and all the old war vessels 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 39 

wliicli used to belong to the royal navy, for nothing- No 
official, clad in the cast-ofFred rags of some half-witted sprig 
of nobility, keeps up a din in your ears : "A shilling, sir 
— a sixpence, if you please, sir." And if a long, lank, 
lean, wiry-sinewed Yankee should meet him, with some 
horn fiints, or wooden nutmegs, or white oak axe-handles, 
he need not buy unless he chooses — no compulsion. Now, 
no man, with half an eye, can fail to see that there is infi- 
nitely more parsimony, and stinginess, and little mean tricks 
to get a penny in England than in America. The people 
are driven to it by a stern necessity ; they must do it, in 
many cases, or starve. And then, so far as the government 
is concerned, they must shoiv their curiosities, to assist in 
raising the revenue for the humble royalty ; for, bless me, 
if they did not charge a dollar and a quarter for a sight of 
St. Paul's, and a quarter for Westminster Abbey, and a 
half dollar to open the Tower — which, Grod knows, they 
have opened often enough for nothing, to bring innocency 
to the fatal block — how could they raise the needful to 
pay Prince Albert his enormous salary, and feed the seven 
royal babies, and pay ten thousand dollars for nice horses, 
and open Marlboro' House, and sustain an establishment at 
an expense of one hundred thousand dollars, for a boy ten 
years old, with horses and hounds ? Eh, mon cher, how 
could they ? Mr. Bright, a member of the Commons, I 
see, has just inquired, ' ' whether these are to be real live 
horses or roching Iwrses." And, then, no man can hope 
to become rich ; if he can live from day to day he thanks 



40 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

Grod. Hence, among the laboring classes there can be no 
enterprise, no ambition. Labor is a task, and life a bur- 
den. I was told again and again, " Our taxes are so high 
that we cannot get ahead." I noticed some very low- 
wheeled carriages rolling about this city, and was told that 
the object was to avoid the wheel-tax I for wheels under a 
certain height are not taxed. And the other day, while 
coming up from Menai Straits, I saw the old hulk of a 
fishing-smack, hauled up on the shore, and converted into 
a dwelling. I learned that it was occupied by a contractor 
on some public works, and by this piece of nautical economy 
he avoided the window tax ! He must have been a Yan- 
kee ! But these things will work their own cure, at last ; 
for there is a point below which your material human nature 
cannot be compressed without a struggle. I do remember 
me somewhat of a " stamp act," and a "tea tax," which 
gave rise to one of the most brilliant tea parties ever held 
on your continent. I hope for one here one of these days ; 
and, should it come, if I can get a ticket, I will attend. 

We must come from this jaunt to the hotel. I confess to 
feeling a slight degree of embarrassment, when I first com- 
menced life under this new mode : a fear of violatmg the 
rules of etiquette, of appearing verdant, &c., made me a 
little shy at first, but soon I came rather to like the arrange- 
ments of these hotels. You sit by yourself ; you accelerate 
or retard your gastronomic operations ; you weigh your 
purse and decide what you can afford. No one with more 
bulk than brains seizes upon the choicest dish upon the 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 41 

table, and appropriates it to himself. On the whole, though 
Job did not " eat his morsel alone," I was pleased to take 
mine solus. 

I must give you one word on an important matter ofte^^i 
touched upon by my predecessors in travel, but, to my 
mind, never fully discussed : I allude to mutton ! And 
here a treatise, rather than a fugitive letter, might be writ- 
ten. I am overwhelmed with a sense of incapacity to 
touch and discuss this subject. Suffice it, then, to say, 
that I have, with scarcely an exception, eaten only " mut- 
ton chops " since I landed ; and I, with profound sorrow, 
and almost drowned in gravy, do sincerely ask pardon of 
the venerable matron who sailed with me to this port, for 
the ill-grounded and greaseless sport with which I heard 
her commendable longings for the flesh-pots of old Engknd. 
English mutton ! I could go into heroics at once. I won- 
der this subject has not been given as a theme to some of 
the graduates of Cambridge or Oxford! Izaak Walton, 
M'Intosh, Macaulay, how is it that ye could spend years 
in writing on the art of angling, philosophy, and the history 
of England, while mutton remained untouched! O, ye 
illustrious race of noble bards, from Chaucer down to the 
"Corn-Law Bard," how is it? but there I fail. The 
sheep of England ought to have a monument in Westmin- 
ster Abbey by the side of S — they. Look at my bills : 
"No. 26 — one mutton chop ; 26 — two mutton chops." 
But hold ! who that ever read the Wizard of the North, 
but, among monks, and pack-staves, and. lairds, and wassail, 
4* * 



42 EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

remembers that kingly dish, " venison pie ! " Well, here, 
in an English hotel, I cut into one ; and, with my friend, 
Rev. H. W. B., of B., N. Y., on one side, and your hum- 
ble correspondent on the other, it, like morning mist or a 
fog bank on Newfoundland, faded away. 

I have finished my perambulations in this fine city, and 
now my face is set toward London. " I am going up to 
London : " this is the invariable expression by Englishmen. 
It matters not in what part of the little island they may be 
— they may be up the Thames, and about to sail down to 
the metropolis — still it is " up to London." It is a con- 
ventional expression. London is the great central point 
for all the United Queendom, and a cockney goes " down 
to Hampton " as truly as down to Greenwich, though the 
one is up the river and the other down. 

Note. As exceptions have been taken to some statements in this 
letter relative to intemperance in England, I append the following 
testimony on this point, from an American gentleman, now in 
Europe, and I might add that of Horace Greely, Esq., in a letter to 
the Tribune, during his late tour : — 

" It may not be out of place here to assert, that in all classes of 
society that I have met in England, I have met with more ' soak- 
ing ' than I ever saw before in my life. The lower orders drink 
gin to an excess that is perfectly astounding ; and the higher orders 
are quite as much given to this kind of indulgence. Even the 
ladies are not exceptions to this rule. Their drink consists of malt, 
port, and claret, and the quantity that is drank every day at dinner 
is miraculous ; thus explaining, without much penetration, the 
cause of that fine ruddy complexion, which is so characteristic of 
the English. Almost every Englishman that you meet with is 
constantly complaining of rheumatism, gout, asthma, &c., &c. 
East winds are to him a perpetual night-mare ; and the draft, even 



RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 43 

through a key-hole, would frighten him into hysterics. He never 
goes out without bundling himself up with shawls and mufSers, 
and all sorts of things, for fear of taking cold. He drinks an extra 
quantity of ale for ' a tonic,' takes port to ' strengthen him,' and 
imbibes any quantity of hot spirits and water to ' warm him up a 
bit ; ' and thus he wags on his way through life, until some fine 
morning he is found dead in his bed, or drops suddenly in the 
street, and every body is astonished at the sudden death of a ' man 
in such fine health ! ' " 



LETTER V. 



LoNBON, July 25, 1850. 

My Dear S : 

Having settled our bills, we took up our carriages for 
London. A cab took us, and our small amount of bag- 
gage, to the Victoria station, for one shilling and sixpence. 
I say small amount, for I have but one bag ; and this is 
all I purpose to burden myself with during my tour. 
When I left home — and this I wish to say for the benefit 
of any reader hereof, who may start, or be started, on a 
European tour — I filled a large trunk ; for when I began 
to pack up, I imagined I should want a variety of articles ; 
which I found only burdensome, and, therefore, I sent my 
trunk back by the same ship in which it came. My leather 
valise I can take in my hands and walk any where, and 
save some shillings. Half-past two found us at the station 
— that miserable, uncouth word, depot, is never used 
here — a magnificent building, with a fine glass roof in an 
iron frame. And we began to have a glimpse of English 
44 



EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 45 

railroad life. Our first object was to get a ticket. A sign 
directed us to the " First Class Ticket Office," and 
another to the *' Second and Third Class." We had been 
advised to ride in the second class, as a matter of economy 
and pleasure, inasmuch as the fare in the first class is 
nearly double, and the society so outrageously exclusive as 
to bar all sociability. Nine-tenths of all the travel is in 
the second, third, and fourth class cars. The first alone 
are cushioned ; the others can offer you but a board. Yet 
with a Scotch long shawl you can do well. And then the 
people are here, the lords there. All of the middle class ride 
in the middle class car ; and the poorer class take- the third 
and fourth class ; this last being only a platform, with a 
rail round it, and the passengers standing up. The cars 
are constructed similar to an old fashioned stage coach, 
with the doors in the sides, and seats facing each other, so 
that, if you are not spit upon, you are trodden under foot. 
This, however, augments the revenue of the country ; for 
your boots must be blacked after each ride. 

You crawl into the coach, as it is here ycleped, and if 
you are six feet in stature, you cannot sit upright with a hat 
on your head, if you have cushioned your seat. And 
there you sit all day, longing for the end, or an American 
car. I took the liberty of telling one gentleman, that if a 
first rate American railroad train could drive through the 
city of London, it would do more to advance the interests 
of humanity there than all the presses now groaning in this 
great city. The remark was somewhat hyperbolical ; but 



46 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

still it had some truth in it. Progress is a matter the Eng- 
lish people do not seem well to understand. But they are 
an old people, and their country was finished before ours 
was known to exist. Hence, it does not get through their 
hair that there can he a better way of doing things than the 
way our fathers did them. Therefore, when the iron road 
was made, what better way could there be than to transfer 
the old stage coach body from its old wheels to the iron, 
and " leave it alone in its glory ? " We, you know, tried 
them, and soon threw them aside. I saw a regiment of 
them in some old stable-yard between Albany and Buffalo. 
The objection to our long and commodious cars, brought 
by Englishmen, is, that they do not like such sociality ; 
they do not like to be mingled with every body. But in 
an English car, unless in some of the first class coaches, 
you are literally face to face with your neighbors, as much 
so as in a stage coach. But while the cars are execrable, 
the roads and the arran o;ement are excellent. Nothing; that 
money and skill can accomplish has been spared to make 
these roads perfect ; and hence the railroad bankruptcy. 
'•' Our roads do not pay," is the oft-repeated remark here. 
Nothing is rough and unfinished. From the laying of the 
rail to the planting of the hedge row on the borders, all is 
finished. 

The officials are generally polite, and they are not per- 
mitted to take the "everlasting shilling." But your bag- 
gage you must look out for. The convenient system of 
ticketing your baggage, prevailing with us, is unknown 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 47 

liere. You must have your eyes open. At all the road 
crossmgs, as we sped along, I observed a man standing 
with a flag on his shoulder, facing the road, upright as a 
Prussian soldier, till you pass. No accidents occur, then, 
at these crossings. The guard knows the time of the 
approach of each train, and no person is allowed to cross 
the track till the train passes. The doors of the coaches, 
next to the second track, which is always on the right — as 
here the "law directs, turn to the left^^ — are always 
locked, so that passengers cannot step out upon the track 
and he cut into mince meat by a passing train. At each 
place for taking water and coke, engineers pass the whole 
length of the train, and, with a hammer, rap each wheel, 
to ascertain if all are sound. Hence, you seldom hear of 
the breaking of a wheel. On these splendid roads you are 
not smothered with dust and smoke ; for, as the coal is 
coked, there is no smoke or sparks, and the road being- 
grassed or gravelled, no dust arises. 

But it is time to look inside. Our company was mixed. 
Here, side by side, sit two Yankees ; there, is an aristo- 
cratic family, who have taken the whole middle depart- 
ment ; and farther, in the other end, are some jockeys, who 
have been up somewhere to " the races," which are just 
over. As the partitions in this car only rose half way, I 
could look over, and see what was going on. Soon the 
ruling passion of the English began to stir the stomach, and 
the lunch baskets were produced; and sandwiches, and 
cake, and cold mutton, appeared in rich variety. The old 



48 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

gent., at the head of all, pulled out a long, black bottle. 
A cork-screw, as necessary an article for an Englishman as 
a tooth-pick for a Yankee, or a bowie knife for a Missis- 
sippian, was drawn from the pocket, a silver cup from the 
basket, and, pop! the red wine appeared. A little boy 
was in the same apartment, who said he was going up to 
London to his friends. The old gentleman generously 
gave him a portion of the lunch, and then offered him the 
cup ; and each time he himself drank, he gave the lad also ; 
and when we reached London that night the boy could not 
stand. He was dead drunk. A gentleman got him into a 
carriage, and sent him home — a pretty sight for his wait- 
ing relatives ? However, it was probably only a source of 
amusement to them. 

English taciturnity has been a subject so hackneyed 
among us as now to be almost lost sight of. But I must 
dissent here. An Englishman has good common sense, 
and he will not obtrude himself upon you, nor volunteer to 
give information, nor ask the first question ; but when you 
approach him and seek information, he is ready to give it, 
and becomes sociable. This, no doubt, arises from an in- 
nate conviction of superiority — a high degree of self- 
esteem ; as if he would say, " I am first. If you want 
any thing, come to me." And this was true, till the Yan- 
kee nation was born. But this feeling is fast giving way 
to a more correct estimate of national character. In my 
intercourse with my elder brethren, thus far, I have no 
fault to find with them in this respect. 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 49 

An incident occurred in the cars to-day, which amused 
me much, and so fully illustrates aristocratic caste that I 
am fain to jot it down for the information and amusement 
of my readers. A man entered the cars somewhere be- 
tween Liverpool and London ; and, as I endeavored to. 
make every body talk, I soon set his tongue running. 

•' I am going to see a friend of mine, who has |u^ 
returned from America," said he; "and he has returned 
home the most independent fellow you ever saw. He goes 
snapping his fingers about, and cares for nobody. His 
father disowned him some ten years ago, and he went to 

America, bought a large tract of land in State, and 

is well to do in the world." 

" What was the difficulty between him and his father? ** 
I inquired. 

" Why, you see, he took it into his head to marry a pub- 
lican^ s daughter, and the old folks forbade it." 

" A publican's daughter!" said I; "you mean a re- 
publican ; and his father was one of your nobles, or a high 
monarchist." 

"0, no, no," said he; "he married a tavern keeper's 
daughter." 

" And who was his father ? " 

" Why, his father was a clergyman ! " 

"But was not the publican, as you call him, a likely 
man — a man of good character ? " 

" 0, yes, to be sure." 
5 



50 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

*' And the girl ; was she not a girl of good character and 
standing in society ? " 

" 0, yes, indeed ! But you see there is a difference in 
their position in society, which made such a connection 
improper." 

"I see no such thing, my friend, I only see that one 
man fed the body for money or hire, and the other fed the 
soul for the lucre ; and the first may be the better man. 
To my mind, these distinctions are foolish and without 
foundation; and the young man showed a commendable 
and manly independence, and his father showed himself 
utterly unfit to preach the gospel, which commands us to 
* mind not high things, but condescend to men of low 
estate.' I have half a mind to call on your friend with 
you." 

"Well, you would like him. And, by the way, since 
he came over, some of his friends, who cut him, have in- 
vited him to visit them ; but he could not make it conven- 
ient. Ha, ha! He's the most independent fellow you 
ever saw ! " 

The train stopped, and my loquacious friend stepped 
out. But good luck to the man who married a publican's 
virtuous daughter, and snaps his fingers in the faces of 
slaves to the conventionalisms of a rotten aristocracy ! 

Night shades are gathering about us, and we are yet far 
from London. We seem to have been riding through a 
dense forest of oaks all day. English agriculture is car- 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 51 

ried to a high state of perfection ; but so many oaks, it 
seems to me, must shade tlie ground to the injury of vege- 
tation. The hedges are neat, but take up much more room 
than an American fence, unless it be a stump fence. But 
we are told this is not the best agricultural region of Eng- 
land, and, of course, we cannot judge correctly. English 
farmers would live and make money where an American 
would starve. The secret is, they lease only so much land 
as they can thoroughly till and feed ; for a good agricul- 
turist knows right well that his land must be fed, as well 
as his stock, in order to yield. 

On we fly, over bridges, by hedges ; now a manufac- 
tory ; now a brick yard ; now a cluster of little, dingy, 
brick houses, with roofs of tile ; but no fine, large, white 
farm houses ; not a solitary country residence, such as we 
see in America, with a noble barn and out buildings. 
Stacks of hay, and ricks of grain, you often see ; but it 
looks solitary to us. The tillers of the soil trudge off miles 
to their work, and home again at night. But the soil is 
not theirs; but belongs to some overgrown " laird," who 
has no more righteous claim to it than he has to one of 
Saturn's rings. 

At 11 o'clock at night we ran into the most famous city 
in the world. A cab took us to " No. 7, King's street, 
Cheapside," and soon sleep came and banished care. 



LETTEE YI. 



London, July 30, 1850. 

MoN Cher Ami : 

London ! Remember you -wliat tBat sweet poet Cowper 
sang of this Babel ? 

" London engulfs them all ! The shark is there. 

And the shark's prey ; there the sycophant, and he 
"Who, with bareheaded and obsequious bows, 
Begs a warm office, doomed to a cold jail. 
And groat per diem, if his patron frown. 

" O thou, resort and mart of all the earth, 
Chequered with all complexions of mankind. 
And spotted with all crimes ; I can laugh. 
And I can weep, can hope, and can despond, 
Feel wrath and pity, when I think on thee ! 
Ten righteous would have saved a city once. 
And thou hast many righteous. Well for thee, 
That salt preserves thee." 

I was awakened early in the morning by the striking of 
one of the many city clocks, which are constantly "taking 

52 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 53 

note of time; " and I could hardly realize that I was in 
London ! Outside the din had commenced ; hells, 'busses, 
beggars and breadcarts, were pouring by in a ceaseless 
tide. Under my window a hoarse, horrible voice was cry- 
ing for old clothes ; it was a Jew. Had he heard that a 
Yankee had arrived, and must cast off his outer apparel 
and clothe himself in garments of civilization ? Breakfast 
over, and prayers, our work was taken in hand. For what 
are we here ? to see London, of course. Well, if you 
would see London, you must worh^ and that by a plan. 
You must have '* method in your madness." One may 
start and walk all day and see nothing but houses. You 
must draw up a plan of visitation. And we found the 
better way to be, to make your own plan, not depending 
too much upon " Murray's Gruide Book." 

My first wish was to see some places and things not put 
down in any guide book. '' Where is City Boad Chapel ? " 
My map points out to me the great thoroughfare, City 
Boad, and then I see " Bunhill Fields " is on that road — 
enough for half a day : we seized our canes and were off. 

" City Boad Chapel " must have been a long way out 
of the city when built ; for it is in a part quite modern, and 
a long walk from the centre of this Babel. We found it 
sitting back some three or four rods from the street. On 
the right as you enter is the house built and occupied, when 
in London, by Mr. Wesley, and in which he died. I 
wished much to enter the room in which that wonderful 
man triumphed over death ; but, though I expressed the 
5* 



M RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

wish to the preachers ■whom I met, I did not gain admis- 
sion. On the left of the yard is a house occupied by the 
vnan of all work; that is, a local preacher who is hired by 
the society to read prayers in the chapel, to visit the sick, 
and attend funerals. 

Behind the chapel is the church-yard, where are quietly 
sleeping some of the true heroes of earth, who have laid 
aside their armor, and are enjoying the fruits of victory. 
How one feels standing for the first time by the grave of 
Wesley, and Clarke, and Watson, and Benson — men who 
" hazarded their lives unto the death" — men of renown. 
Men who will live for ever, whose works follow them. I 
spent some time in this little church-yard, among the 
silent but eminent dead. I then wandered across the street 
into " Bunhill Fields" burying ground, to dream awhile 
with Bunyan, the prince of dreamers. And now what 
voices I heard in these old houses of the illustrious dead, 
what forms I saw, what communications I received from the 
spirit world, I shall never tell to any one ; and for the 
prince of reasons — I cannot. My emotions were overpower- 
ing as I leaned upon his tombstone. His immortal work 
was the first book I remember to have read, and I could 
distinctly recollect how it stirred my heart. And I have 
read it again and again, and shall read it again with re- 
newed interest. I turned away, and felt thankful to God 
that such a man lived, and that he suffered ; for had he not 
'* lighted on a certain cave, and laid him down and slept," 
he had not dreamed. It was a great day for me. 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 55 

" City Road Chapel," in its interior, is well represented 
by the picture, which most of your readers have seen, of Mr. 
Wesley and four hundred preachers in conference assem- 
bled. I subsequently saw over six hundred preachers 
assembled in it transacting conference business. Around 
the walls are marble slabs erected to the memory of the 
illustrious dead of the Methodist society : a practise I 
should like to see introduced among us. Why not ? it is 
not burying them in the churches, but remembering them 
there. 

Returning from this visit to these points of interest, we 
found ourselves inquiring for the " Bank of England," and 
soon we were in front of it. A building not at all impos- 
ing, covering a large space, but irregularly built, and neces- 
sarily so, as it was built at different periods, and of course 
combining all varieties of architecture, from the most simple 
to the most elaborate. 

The first building was opened for business June 1, 1734. 
As business increased, wings were added, until, in 1788, 
the building was cast in its present form. The rotunda is, 
a magnificent octagonal room, fifty-seven feet in diameter ; 
but the dome which surmounts it, is not of sufficient height 
to exhibit the grandeur which was intended. In this build- 
ing are employed eleven hundred clerks, besides the offi.- 
cers. This may give one an idea of the business transacted 
in this great heart of a world's commerce. The " Bank' of 
England^ ^ is known and felt all over the world; and a 
"Bank Note" is current every where. A coarse and 



56 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

rough looking piece of paper, you would say ; " it comes in 
sucli questionable shape," that you must pause ere you 
grasp it ; but one who has seen it once, will not hesitate. 
These notes are never issued the second time ; when they 
come into the bank they are destroyed, and a peculiar 
water-mark prevents counterfeiting. The greatest curiosity 
is a clock over the hall, which is connected by rods with no 
less than sixteen dial-plates, in as many different offices, by 
which true time is at once indicated. 

Not far from the Bank we came to the noted Centenary 
Hall, built by the centenary collections commemorative of 
the rise of Methodism. As the conference was in session, 
the ministers were all there, and I found only a waiting 
man here. You know much has been written by the re- 
formers about the extravagance of the old body, and they 
were accused of having men in livery about these rooms ; 
and a certain D. D., not of us, states that he was met at 
the door by a man in livery. But I saw nothing of this ; 
all was plain. I marched straight in, opening a door on 
the left, and found myself in one of the secretary's rooms, 
in which were some glass cases containing various relics of 
the olden time, among which I observed Mr. Wesley's 
little riding whip. I had hardly begun my examination 
before a boy came in to say that visitors were not allowed 
in that room ; but he was too late — I had the nine parts 
in law, viz., possession, and I told him I would leave when 
I had finished my examination ; as the door was not locked, 
I was not an intruder. 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 57 

Ascending a flight of stairs, I entered the large hall, or 
reception room, with long tables, and pictures ornamenting 
the walls. Xhe portraits and prints of the preachers hung 
all around, ancient and modern, old and young, distin- 
guished and obscure, were there ; but among them I looked 
in vain for one, who, on the western side of the Atlantic, 
at least, enjoys an unfading reputation. Unless placed 
there since I left, no portrait of Dr. Adam Clarke is found 
there. There is a reason for this which I will not now 
name. The history of humanity leads us often to cry, 
*' Poor human nature ! thy glory is departed." 

In another large room I found benches arranged for 
meetings of various kinds. On the whole it is a fine build- 
ing, and does honor to the liberality of English Methodists. 
Near what is called the London Bridge, I came to the 
Monument^ erected to commemorate the great fire of 1666, 
which nearly destroyed London. I met the everlasting 
call at the entrance of " sixpence, sir! " But before we 
ascend, let us pause a moment and look at the exterior. 
It is a fluted column of the Doric order, and designed by 
Sir Christopher Wren. It is two hundred and two feet 
high, and this is the distance from the spot where the fire 
commenced, in a small baker's shop. The base is forty 
feet high, and twenty-eight feet square. The shaft is one 
hundred and twenty feet high, hollow, and contains a stair 
case of three hundred and forty -five steps, which, after 
many groans and pauses, bring you to the balcony, on 
which rests an urn, forty-two feet high, with flames burst- 



58 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

ing out on all sides. On the faces of tlie pedestal are 
inscriptions, one of which gives an account of the fire. 
Another says, it was the work of the papists, and a part 
of a "horrid plot for extirpating the Protestant religion, 
and old English liberty." James II. erased this inscrip- 
tion ; hut when William III. came to the throne, he caused 
it to be cut in so deeply that he supposed no Catholic 
chisel would obliterate it. But a few years since a vote of 
the Corporation struck it out for ever ; for so Catholic, or 
so insane with popish measures, has England become, that 
it would be no wonder if the monument were blown up, 
and the Tower converted into an Inquisition. I found, 
on reaching the balcony, that all around was a net work 
of iron, so that you must peer out into the smoke of Lon- 
don through the grates. The cause of this I learned to 
be, that formerly many persons took it into their heads 
to jump over the balustrade and try to fly, but they all 
would light upon the ground ; and after a downward 
flight of one hundred and seventy-five feet, it was not 
easy lighting ! As many as six persons committed suicide 
here between the years 1750 and 1842, and the author- 
ities, to put a stop to it, enclosed the balcony with this 
srratino;. 

The view from this monument would be fine if you 
could get a clear day, and the smoke could be removed ; 
but as it is, you pay your sixpence and climb the height to 
come down again. 

I was walking down a narrow street when I came sud- 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 59 

denly upon an old church " not laid down in my chart ; " 
and as I was looking for antiquities, and not modern affairs, 
I determined to search this out, if possible, and " when 
found make note of." I was impressed with an old gate 
leading, as I suppose, to the church yard, over which was 
this inscription : " This gate was huilt at the charges of 
Wm. Avernon, citizen and goldsmith of London, who 
died Dec, anno 1631." 

After inquiring at a number of places, I was at last 
directed up a narrow, dark lane, where I found an old 
lady, who officiated as sexton. She took a large bunch of 
keys, and we made our way to the church. This is the 
only church which escaped the great fire ; and it stood 
begrimed and scorched, alone in the desolation of that ter- 
rible scene. This church is called St Katherine Cree. 
This word (7ree is supposed to be a corruption of Christ's 
church. When it was originally built no one knows. The 
original church was pulled down in 1107, and this was 
repaired in 1628, and we know no more of it — there it 
stands, and you must make the most of it. 

Entering, you are struck with the odd jumble of archi- 
tectural styles. A church of odds and ends. Some is 
modern ; some defies research, running back to an age 
dark as the origin of Rome. But the dead are here, as in 
all these old churches, — the dead of remote antiquity. 
In the wall, on the left of the pulpit, is an old tomb, sur- 
mounted by a marble bust, large as life ; it is the tomb of 
Nicholas Throkmorton, who was tried for participating in 



60 RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

the insurrection of Wyatfc, during the reign of Mary, but 
his eloquence saved him. I copied the following from a 
tablet over the tomb : 

"Here lyeth ye body op Sir Nicolas Throkmor- 
TON, Kt., ye fourth Son of George, which Sir Nic- 
olas WAS, chief butler of England, ane of the 
Chamberlaynes of the exchequier, ambassador 
Lygnar to the Queen's Maj. Elizabeth, in Erauncb 
ONS, & INTO Scotland twyce. He marryed Anne 
Carwe, Kt., & begat by her ten sons & three 

DAUGHTERS. He DIED YE 12 DAWE OF FeB., IN YE 
YEAR OF OUR LORD GOD 1000, 500, 3 SCORE & 10, 
BEING or YE AGE OF FIFTY & 7 YRS." 

After wandering about the aisles of this old edifice until 
the sexton was out of patience, I departed, filled with 
musings on the past. How many times has death emptied 
this old church, and as often has it filled again. You arc 
carried back to the infancy of this great realm, when 
neither civil nor religious liberty was understood or en- 
joyed ; when the Bible was a sealed book, and an ignorant 
priesthood led a still more ignorant people at their will. 
What astonishing changes have passed over society since 
the first congregation of semi-savages assembled on this 
spot for the avowed purpose of worshipping God. All is 
changed, and — we will change the subject. 

A short walk brought me to Leaden-hall street ; and 
here is the £Jast India House, a grand building, two hun- 
dred feet in length, with a portico, supported by six im- 






KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 61 

mense fluted columns. On the faces of the pediment are 
various devices, representing the conquest and robbery of 
the poor East Indians. A sense of justice would lead to 
the obliteration of all this, as it only exhibits the shame 
of England. Comparative solitude reigns here now. 
One can easily imagine the attenuated form of Warren 
Hastings creeping up these steps, when, year after year, he 
waited at the door of this proud company, asking for Jus- 
tice, which, if he had got, would have made him shorter 
by a head. Here is what was the court room. What 
questions have been here discussed, what orders issued, 
what destinies determined ! Here are statues of Hastings, 
Clive, Cornwallis, Warren, and Wellesley; men who, 
without provocation, went forth to butcher their thousands 
of helpless men, women, and children, to enrich a set of 
lazy merchants at home. But times change, and so do cir- 
cumstances ; the possessions of the East India Company 
now form a part of the great empire of Britain, and possi- 
bly good may come of it to the poor inhabitants. 

Down we go now through the narrowest and most dirty 
of London's darkest lanes, and soon, on our right, opens a 
fish market — on one side, the men's department, on the 
other, that of the women. Here are herrings from the 
channel, white fish from the Thames, and magnificent 
salmon from the cold streams of " auld Scotia." This is 
" Billingsgate.^^ Do you doubt it ? listen — did yau ever 
hear such classical language? World-wide is the term 
now, Billingsgate ! " If you do not like our talk," said 
6 



62 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

a young girl, "why, clear out." We took the advice. 
Passing the Custom House, which we visited, soon you see 
before you four old fashioned tuiTcts, at a moderate eleva- 
tion, and ahout one hundred feet apart. These are the 
" White Tower," the " Bell Tower," the " Lion Tower," 
and the " Beauchamp Tower." In the first, it is said, the 
young princes were murdered by the order of the cruel 
Richard. But hold, we are not yet in. This collection of 
buildings covers twelve acres, enclosed within a wall and 
moat. We march up to the gate and pass through into a 
yard, where we find an office for the sale of tickets ; the 
everlasting shilling secures you one, and now you are put 
in charge of a conductor, who has been waiting for a com- 
pany to gather, and off we start, following the man in 
scarlet and lace to the great gate. You pass a wall four- 
teen feet thick. One shivers in passing here. How many 
poor souls have passed under this archway to return no 
more. When Sir T. More went in he said to an attendant, 
" If I become at all troublesome you are at liberty to 
turn me out into the street." His body has not repassed 
these horrid gates. Your guide takes you into the ''Horse 
Armory," and begins his old lecture, " this is so and so," 
&c. All is, here are rows of images on horseback wear- 
ing the antique armor of steel, of which James II. said, 
" A most excellent invention, for it not only defends one 
against harm, but it prevents the doing harm to any one." 
I cannot describe all I saw here, of course ; my thoughts 
were not on these things ; they were with the times and 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 6 



o 



the things and scenes of wliicli these things were only me- 
mentoes. There stands the very block on which the Earl 
of Lovatt and his two compeers suffered for the cause of 
humanity, for freedom. I could have knelt by it in tears. 
It was sawed from one of England's oaks, about two feet 
in diameter, and the same in height ; the sides are scol- 
loped out to receive the chest of the victim on one side and 
his chin on the other — the neck thus resting on the block. 
One stroke of the axe and it's over ! On this fatal block 
are still remainino' the three marks of the edo;e of the axe 
as it went crashing through the necks of the three victims. 
By the side of this block stands a part of the handle of the 
axe with which the Earl of Essex was beheaded. One's 
thoughts go back to his gloomy cell ; we feel his agony as, 
day after day, he waits the result of the messenger he had 
sent to Elizabeth ; the ring she had given him, and which 
he was to send to her in any extremity to which he might 
be reduced. And then we fly to Y/'hitehall and see 
" Queen Bess^^ in an agony still greater, wondering why 
he does not throw himself upon her clemency — struggling 
with her excited feelings — then we fancy ourselves stand- 
ing by the dying bed of the Countess of Nottingham, and 
we hear her confession, that Essex did send the ring — that 
her husband, who was his enemy, forbade her to give it to 
the Queen ; we see Elizabeth's rage as she takes the ring, 
and then, shaking the dying woman, exclaims, " God may 
forgive you, if he pleases, but I never will." All this, and 



64 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

more, is called up bj that little black, worm-eaten stick 
of wood. 

This is the very room in which Sir Walter Raleigh spent 
twelve years of his life, and adjoining is the cave in which 
he slept : a dungeon with not a ray of light but what enters 
by the door. Passing through among mementoes of cruelty 
and bloodshed, we were directly brought to the Jewel room. 
But, alas, our poor shilling by this time had become so 
weak and exhausted as to refuse to carry us a step farther, 
and we were fain to renew it, and so John Bull got another 
shilling for showing us his baubles. Our worthy cicerone 

now turned us over to the gab of an old crone, who went 
on to describe the crowns, and sceptres, and plate. There 
lies the chaste and beautiful crown which once encircled 
the brow of the equally chaste and beautiful Anne Boleyn ; 
and the magnificent diamond-decked coronet of Yictoria, 
the popular, and possibly the last sovereign of England ; 
and another crown, that of Greorge lY. ; all which trash is 
valued at three millions of dollars. " Why," said I to an 
English gentleman who stood near me, ''is this waste 
treasure lying here useless and lost, and so many of your 

® paupers sent over for us to support in the States ? " Napo- 
leon, when he found the twelve silver apostles in Rome, 
said he would send them on a mission, and he melted 
and coined them into francs. Trash, trash, said I, and 
turned my back on them. A few steps again brought us 
into the Court, and just here on this spot, a little darker 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 65 

than the rest of the pavement, was erected the ' ' Scaffold 
on Tower Hill," on which was poured out the best and 
purest blood of the realm. ! Look now just up yonder in 
one of the turrets, and you see a little square window, 
grated by large iron bars. How I longed to get into that 
chamber ! I would gladly have been locked up in that 
chamber for a day and night, with a bit of bread and a jug 
of water ; but we could not be admitted. From that win- 
dow poor Anne Boleyn saw the preparations made for her 
own execution. In this room she penned her last letter, 
dated *' from her doleful prison in the Tower," to that 
consummate scoundrel, Henry YIII. From that horrible 
room she came down to the very spot where I am now 
standing, to die ! From that same window the elegant and 
accomplished Lady Jane Grrey saw the headless body of her 
husband carried from the scaffold to the chapel, and then 
went down to be trailed along the same bloody track in 
thirty minutes after — a historical fact I could never read, 
when a child, without tears ; and now that I stood upon 
the very spot which drank the blood of these victims to an 
idiotic royalty and a purse-proud aristocracy, I "stamped 
the cursed soil," and, with a good will, wished them all 

to die peacefully in their beds, and the sooner the 

better for humanity ! In that same chamber, it is said, 
Elizabeth was confined by the bloody Mary. But enough 
of this. I did not sleep well the night after visiting the 
place where so many, 

" After life's fitful fever, sleep well." 
6* 



Q6 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

On one side of the court stands the little church of St. 
Peter ad vincula, where sleep the headless bodies of the 
victims of a lawless monarchy. Here were buried Anne 
Boleyn ; her brother, Lord Kochford ; the Countess of 
Salssbury ; Bishop of Rochester ; Thomas Lord Cromwell; 
Sir Thomas More ; the Duke of Somerset ; the Duke of 
Norfolk ; Mary, Queen of Scots ; the Earl of Essex ; and 
I know not how many more. Repairs were being made 
upon this chapel, and we could not make a thorough ex- 
ploration. All, or nearly all these persons, were as truly 
martyrs to liberty of thought and speech, as any who have 
died for humanity ; and why does not the English govern- 
ment do them justice ? wipe out the false charges against 
them, and give them a monument of a different kind ? I 
was glad to get out. 

Vale, until we meet in Westminster Abbey. 



LETTER VII. 



London, August 1, 1850. 

Friend S ; 

As yesterday was the day of the opening of the Wes- 
ley an Conference, I was in a state of high but pleasurable 
excitement. I had calculated much upon this opportunity 
of seeing the venerable and efficient body of men, organ- 
ized by a man I had venerated more than any other unin- 
spired man. I had given up the anticipated pleasure of a 
visit to Scotland, in order to attend the sittings of this 
body. I intended to spend ten days in London, and, of 
course, should drop into the Conference often, and partici- 
pate in the festivities of the occasion. I had a strong 
desire to witness the opening ceremonies, and accordingly I 
walked up to the chapel at 9 o'clock, and presenting my 
letter to Mr. Scott, the chairman of the Committee of Ar- 
rangements, expressed to him my desire to witness the 
opening ceremonies. He remarked that it was very uncer- 

67 



68 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

tain whether I could he admitted, hut he would send in my 
letter. I waited an hour, and no permission came. Mr. 
Scott then told me I had hetter come up the next morning. 
My enthusiasm fell some degrees ; and had it not been for 
the mortification of returning home without seeing the body 
at all, I should not have gone again. The next morning 
I walked up to the chapel, when Mr. S. informed me 
that my letter of introduction had been mislaid and lost ! 
But if I would give him my address he would take it in 
to the President. I did so ; and shortly Mr. S. returned 
and informed me that I could be admitted. I followed 
him, and, passing a man at the door with a long pole on 
his shoulder, I was conducted to the platform, and intro- 
duced to the President, Mr. Beecham, but not to the Con- 
ference. A seat was given me on the platform, and I was 
in the English Wesley an Conference. How unlike our 
simple method of doing such things. This parade was to 
me childish. How much more simple and Christian-like 
would it have been for the President, with my letter before 
him, to have said, " Admit the stranger." If a stranger, 
and especially an English Methodist, comes among us, we 
are courteous. No rules shut him out from our Confer- 
ences ; no senseless ceremonials keep him waiting at the 
door for days, until he feels that it is considered an act of 
great condescension to admit him at all, and all good feel- 
ings are soured in his heart. He is taken by the hand and 
\made to feel at home. I lost all my enthusiasm, and, after 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 69 

sitting an hour, left, and have not been near them since ; 
and should not go, if I should pass through London ^^ 
score of times while the Conference is in its sessions. 

The number of preachers attending the Conference this 
year is unusually large, there being about 600 present. 
They nearly fill the house. They are a good looking body 
of men — stout and robust, physically, and evidently taking 
life easy. Such is the perfection and maturity of their 
system, that the preachers have no anxiety as to what they 
shall eat, or how sustain their families. Abundant provis- 
ion is made for them. I doubt if their labor is as great as 
ours ; and, consequently, they are not so soon worn out. 
I should judge that a greater equality of talent is found 
here than with us. So numerous are the applications for 
admission to the conference, that selections can be made 
from among the candidates, and few men of inferior talent 
are received. Our work, extending rapidly as it does, 
renders it necessary to admit many young men who ought 
to spend years in the school of the prophets. 

I had not the privilege of hearing the discussions which 
arise on the first reading of the appointments. I learn 
that the people have more influence in the matter of making 
the appointments, than with us. When the term of the 
service of a preacher is expiring, the society write to a 
man whom they would like to have stationed am.ong them, 
to ascertain whether or no he would be willing to serve 
them. If he consents, it is considered settled. 

Rev. Mr. Waugh, of Ireland, introduced himself to me, 



70 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

and very kindly pointed out to me distinguished men and 
interesting things. He brought to me the volume of the 
old journals of the Conference, and showed me Mr. Wes- 
ley's last signature, a mere scrawl, which one could not 
make out, not knowing what it was. 

All the ex-Presidents and Secretaries occupy the plat- 
form ; the first on the right, where were sitting Jackson, 
Dixon, Newton, Bunting, and others, strong and great 
men. On the left the ex-Secretaries. Dr. Bunting is very 
feeble, and is fast failing. On the right of the platform, 
in the mass, sat a thin, wiry, nervous, man ; but it is said 
the most eloquent man in the body, and who is one of the 
chief speakers. This is Dr. Beaumont. He is not lis- 
tened to with much satisfaction, however, as he is suspected 
of sympathizing with the radicals. When a man here rises 
to speak, whom the body do not care to hear, a sudden 
influenza seems to prevail ! little attention is given him. 
When a speaker meets the approbation of the body, from 
all parts of the house comes that hearty English response, 
"hear, hear; " the surest way to prevent it. Their man- 
ner of doing business is noisy and confused. We could do 
nothing in that way. 

I attended worship in the City Boad Chapel last Sab- 
bath, and had I not known the contrary, I should have 
supposed myself in a church of the Establishment. The 
assistant, a local preacher, read the church service, to a 
thin house. But shortly the people began to collect, so 
that by the time the service was finished, the chapel was 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 71 

filled. I was not interested in the bungling manner of 
conducting this part of worship ; but I was busy with the 
past. I was sitting in front of the pulpit from which the 
Wesleys, and Clarke, and Watson, and Benson, and Bram- 
well, and many others, had so often addressed admiring 
thousands. I lost myself in this entrancing train of recol- 
lections, until a new voice awoke me from my revery. 
Rev. Mr. Osborne gave out a hymn, which all the congre- 
gation sung, heartily and sweetly ; then followed a short 
prayer; and then he gave us a short sermon, simple, plain, 
and practical. After service, my kind host took me into 
the vestry, and introduced me to Dr. Bunting, Mr. Os- 
borne, and others. I was not invited to preach. But one 
individual to whom I had an introduction interested me 
more than all the rest. This was an old lay member, 
about eighty years of age, whose name was Rogers. Your 
readers, who have seen the fine engraving of Mr. Wesley's 
death bed scene, will recollect the little boy so earnestly 
gazing upon the dying saint, and who is there said to be 
"Master Rogers;" and this old gentleman is that little lad. 
It was full of poetry to me ! Here was a link connecting 
two generations. I pressed a hand which Mr. Wesley had 
often held in his own. Blessings upon thy hoary head, my 
father ! 



LETTER YIII. 



LoNDox, August 3, 1850. 

To Key. A. S : 

I LEFT you in my last at tlie Tower of London. This 
business of siglit-secing is hard work — harder than editing 
an American newspaper. You must walk, walk, walk, 
until your nether extremities ache — and then you must 
look until your eyes ache — and think until your brains 
seem on fire. And when you sleep you are still going. 
It reminds one of the old Glerman musical director at a 
theatrical rehearsal, who, observing that the horn players 
paused, called out to know what was the matter? " There 
is a res^ here," remarked one. "Rest, rest," cried the 
old hero, " I have no rest in this establishment, and no 
one else shall have while I am here — play on ! " And so 
with your tourist ; he must look for rest when he gets home, 
not before. And then, y6u must be systematic and know 
how to economize time. I have, therefore, laid out my 
■^jork methodically ; and I find on my plan for this day — 
8t. PauVs and Westminster Ahhey, 
72 



EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 73 

The first stands near my lodgings, and of course our 
walk will be short. We pass into Cheapside from King^s 
street, turn to the right, and in a few minutes we reach 
the Post Office, which we leave on the right, and bearing a 
little to the left we are at Paternoster Row — and this is 
directly in front of St. Paul's. This celebrated Cathedral ^ 
(for, mon ami, you must not call it a church, or a meeting- 
house, here,) stands in a bad position for appearance. On 
all sides it is crowded by blocks of buildings. Instead of 
leaving the space to the river, which is not far distant, 
clear, it is filled up ; so that, approach it from whatever 
point you will, you do not see it until you step into a 
narrow street — and up it springs before you, like some 
iiuge giant. 

So many descriptions have been given of this great work 
of art, that it would be a waste of time for me to attempt it. 
If, by a few dashes of my pen, I could give your readers a 
general view of it, I should be happy to do so. 

The form of this building is that of a Greek cross, says 
the architect. Well, says some one of your readers, what 
is a Greeh cross f Such a cross differs from a common 
cross in this, that it is the true cross / Do not be startled ; 
I only mean that the two parts of this cross are equal, and 
joined in the middle. The principal entrance is on the 
west, and is adorned with magnificent Corinthian columns, 
sustaining the portico, over which are eight smaller columns. 
And over the front of the portico, in bas relief, is a repre- 
sentation of the conversion of St. Paul. Could the soot be 



74 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

dug off, I have no doubt many other figures might be 
found, as some noses can be seen protruding through, as if 
anxious to get a snuff of pure air. But if you have not 
got any thing of an idea of its vastness outside, please look 
at these dimensions : the building occupies two acres and a 
fraction of ground ; its length inside is five hundred feet, 
breadth two hundred and twenty-three feet, height three 
hundred and forty feet ; now add to this the thickness of 
the walls ; imagine now the immense dome resting upon the 
top, and this surmounted by a gilt ball which weighs five 
thousand six hundred pounds, and this again by a cross 
weighing three thousand six hundred pounds, which you 
can only see by climbing some tower or column in some 
other part^of the city, and you will have some notion of this 
huge pile of folly. It stands on the site of the church, or 
cathedral, damaged by fire in 1666. The first stone was 
laid in 1675, and finished in 1710. Let us enter. Until 
recently, you must pay two-pence : you can now enter the 
main body for nothing. Punch asks — " Did the great 
clock of St. Paul's ever strike thirteen ? Yes, once when 
the verger admitted a poor urchin, from sheer goodness, 
without taking his two-pence." And you will recall the 
incident of the sentry at Windsor Castle, who was accused 
of sleeping on his post, but saved his life by declaring that 
he was wide awake, and heard the great clock of St. Paul's 
strike thirteen. It was ascertained that on the night in 
question the clock did actually strike thirteen ! Was this 
chance ? But while I have been relating these incidents, 



KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 75 

we have climbed the steps, and lo, the interior of this vast 
pile bursts upon us. You cannot realize the loftiness of 
the dome, up into which we are gazing. Eight immense 
piers sustain the dome, and, through the four arches thus 
formed, we enter the aisles. Look just before you over the 
entrance to the choir, or that part of the cathedral where 
divine service is performed. You see an inscription ; let 
us read it : — 

" Beneath lies Christopher Wren, the architect of this church and 
city, who lived more than 90 years, not for himself alone, but 
for the public. Reader, do you seek his monumeaf "? look around 
you." / 

Hanging up among the columns are flags of all nations, 
torn by shot and stained with blood. I think the stars and 
stripes are there ; but I thought of the old brass drums, 
and muskets, and flags in the old State House in Boston, 
so I found my finger instinctively creeping up to my nose ; 
but I said not a word. Moreover, just before me was the 
marble statue of Paclcenham, and I thought of the eighth 
of January and New Orleans I 

. It seems sacrilege to fill a building, erected for divine 
worship, with military trophies and statues of men who 
lived for slaughter, and died in attempts to kill ! But so ife 
is ; and this building should be called, not St. Paul's, but 
' * the Temple of Mars. ' ' 

The first statue erected here was Dr. Johnson's. Here 
is a group to the memory of Nelson ; and there one to 
Cornwallis ; and one thinks of Yorktown — and was that" 



76 EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

imagination, or did that marble head turn aside a little as 
this group of live Yankees passed him ? Now all these 
monuments and statues are very fine, and very costly. 
What sums have been wasted on these follies ! would it not 
have been better to have expended this money for the mil- 
lion — for public schools, for jiublic improvements, for the 
people? "But this is national glory!" rather national 
disgrace. I cannot look upon these things with pleasure. 
Am I really without taste, or patriotism, or what is the 
matter ? At Menai Straits, the other day, I went into 
heroics while examining the tubular bridge, that wonder of 
the age ; but here I am filled with disgust. The incon- 
gruity apparent may account for it — worship in one part, 
and commemoration of slaughter in the other. ^ 

I attended worship here half a day ; but to me it was 
no worship. The priests chant the service from the begin- 
ning to the end. It is not music nor dancing before the 
Lord ; it is nonsense, the whole of it, and I cannot well 
conceive how common sense men can bear it. It seems to 
be a feeble attempt at imitating the Catholics, but an evi- 
dent failure ; for in the Catholic worship which I have wit- 
nessed there is a harmony, a congruity, which is not found 
in this cathedral mummery. 

There are the images or idols, and the bowing, or genu- 
flexions, and contortions, are in keeping with the whole 
concern. Here, in St. Paul's, you find a religious service 
twice a day ; that is, the prayers are sung by some priests, 
and twelve boys, with soiled white frocks, representing the 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 77 



twelve apostles ! So many monkeys would be an improve- 
ment, for they would be sober. 

How I longed to stand up in that little wine-glass pulpit 
and pour out my soul ! What a mighty influence for good 
might be exerted by the means commanded by the English 
church. Put truly evangelical men into the pulpits of 
these splendid metropolitan churches, " foo^e ^/^em and let 
them ^0 " in the true freedom of the word of Grod, and all 
London would be shaken. The vast structures would be 
filled to overflowing, instead of the few who now straggle 
in, and society would be changed. But now what is this 
great hierarchy doing for the salvation of men ? I have 
attended worship in three of the greatest cathedrals in the 
Queendom, Chester, St. PauVs, and Westmirister Abbey, 
but I saw nothing like devotion — all was heartless, formal, 
cold. While I have been delivering this short homily, I 
suppose you have been looking at the various illustrations 
of British history around us, "sieges, battles, fortunes." 
You will gaze with pleasure upon that magnificent monu- 
ment to Dr. Johnson, and also that to Howard, the lover 
of men ; this, we are told, cost one thousand three hun- 
dred guineas. W. Jones, the Oriental scholar, and Joshua 
Reynolds, the great painter, have each a fine monument 
here ; after which all is grim murder ; blood, blood, seems 
trickling from the walls, dropping from the lips of the 
statues, welling up from the pavement, spouting from the 
pedestals, showering from the dome. Strange whisper- 
ings are heard here, and hollow echoes resound through 
7* 



78 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

the arches, and you seem to be among spirits in 'prison. 
Hark, what wailing falls upon your ear ! Now dying 
away, now rising again, and rushing all along these aisles, 
and corridors, and arches. Public service has commenced, 
and here comes the beadle, a stout man, in his grand- 
mother's old black gown, with a long staff, tipped with 
silver ; and he tells us we cannot be permitted to walk 
about during service, we may disturb their devotions. No 
doubt many sincere and pious souls come in to pray, who 
are devotional ; but that there is any devotion in those 
rogues of boys, who are chanting there, or those priests, 
whose eyes are wandering about among the congregation, I 
have •' some dele " of doubt. Well, as we cannot walk 
about here, we will e'en go up higher. 

"Pay!" yes, pay. I wrote you sometime since that 
it is all pay^ here. If you ask a man in the street to 
tell you the name thereof, you must give him sixpence. I 
may as well set down at once the whole cost of seeing St. 
Paul's. Formerly, I have said, you must pay two-pence 
for entering ; but this is abolished, because those who came 
to pray could not be distinguished from those who came to 
see, and, therefore, that tax was abated. But you must 
pay for 



Galleries, including the whispering, 

Library, Bell, &c., 

Clock, 


s. 


1 



V' 
6 



2 


The Ball, 


1 


6 


Vaults, 


1 






EAMBLES IN EUKOPE. 79 

That is, a little over a dollar you must pay for seeing 
St. Paul's ! A goodly tax, to begin witli. Now, when 
you consider the number of visitors thronging the metropo- 
lis all the while, and they cannot go home without seeing 
this great wonder, you will see that the revenue must he 
great. And pity it is, that this could not ease the burdens 
of the people a little. 

We will just look into the library ; not because it is of 
itself of any great interest, except some ancient manu- 
scripts, but because I wish to show you the floor. This is 
made of square pieces of oak, to the number of two thou- 
sand three hundred and seventy-six, and not a nail or peg 
in the whole! Polished and waxed, it is "as neat as 
wax.'''' 

Entering the model room, you will see some ancient 
designs and models of architecture. But the main thing 
here is the great lantern, which was suspended from the 
/ dome, and lighted the cathedral at the funeral of that great 
butcher, Nelson ! Glory is apt to hide the depravity of 
such men, by her tinsel and tawdy trappings ; but the 
good time is coming when men will go for what they are 
really worth, and they will not be permitted, like the old 
gothic savage in the sack of Rome, to throw into the soak 
a bloody sword instead of merit. When I think of Nel- 
son, I see him in the Bay of Naples, possessing and carry- 
ing with him another man's wife, and hanging at his yard 
arm the good old patriotic prince Carracciolo. I detest all 
such men ; they are a disgrace to the race. I would as 



80' RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

soon raise a monument to a tiger as to sucti. The truly 
great man is the benefactor of his race. No matter what 
his station, or his talents ; if he has advanced the interests 
of humanity in the least degree, he is worthy of remem- 
brance. Pardon, raon ami, these homilies ; I cannot 
help it. 

We will climb up to the bell and then we will go to 
dinner. 

Your strength will be tested by this feat. I advise no 
short-winded, plethoric, gouty personage, to attempt this 
journey. You must take six hundred and sixteen steps 
before you reach the great Ball. 

The clock and bell are curiosities. The last weighs 
eight thousand five hundred pounds — four tons and a 
quarter. The mouth of the bell is ten feet in diameter. 
The dial plate of the clock is eight feet ten inches in 
diameter ; but from the street, or some distant point of 
observation, it appears about as large as your hat. The 
minute hand is eight feet long, and the pendulum fourteen ; 
and the weight at the end of the rod weighs one hundred 
and twelve pounds. 

But now do not imagine you will hear this enormous 
bell toll. It is not for the common people ; no luxury like 
this can they claim. Only three persons can enjoy the 
happiness of reflecting that for them this great bell can 
ring out its startling tones, viz. : one of the Royal family, 
the Bishop of London, and the Lord Mayor. It is only 
tolled when one of these persons dies. 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 81 

Now away, up into the ball. You saw this before we 
entered, aud it looked about as large as a twenty-four 
pound shot ; but its diameter inside is six feet, and eight 
persons may sit in it. But mind your steps, for should 
you miss your footing you will wish yourself a balloon. 
From this elevation you would have a fine view of the 
great city — if you could see it; but generally it is so 
smoky you can see nothing. You see a little line of dirt 
running along at your feet, through the centre of the city ; 
that is the Thames, about as large as one of your little mill 
streams; not exactly " running purple to the sea," but 
inky. Let us descend — it is the hour for dinner. Step, 
now, into any one of the chop houses, and, for a shilling, 
you may procure enough to sustain the outer man until we 
meet again. 



LETTER IX. 



London, Aug. 4, 1850. 

My good Bro. S : 

I LEFT you rather unceremoniously in my last, taking a 
mutton chop, after the fatigue of climbing to the ball of 
St. Paul's. "We are now so near the Post Office perhaps 
we had better step in and look at it, and especially as I 
wish to inquire for letters. By the way, speaking of let- 
ters reminds me that my arrangements for receiving letters 
from home were most miserable, and I will give you a hint, 
and through you to your readers, lest any of them should 
come to this state of perplexity. It is impossible for any 
one to make a plan which shall embrace a tour of six 
months, until he is on the ground ; so many contingencies 
arise which he cannot foresee, nor guard against. 

Your safest way will be to direct your letters to some 

agent in London, or Paris, or Ostend, so that you can 

direct him to forward them to you at such places as you 

may light upon. In this way you can be sure of your 

82 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 83 

letters. You will say to your agent or banher, " If letters 
come for me, despatch them up to such a date to such a 
place, after that to this or that point." And thus you will 
find these dear messengers of love to pour a balm into your 
heart. 

Here's the Post Office, opposite the corner of Alders- 
gate and Newgate, in what is called "St. Martin's le 
grand." I suppose the postal arrangement of this city is 
more perfect than in any other place in the world. The 
building, a large stone edifice, was erected in 1829. The 
main hall is sixty by eighty feet, and fifty in height ; and 
the dome is supported by six immense granite columns. 
On one side are the Newspaper, Foreign, Inland, and Ship 
Letter Offices ; on the other, the business offices. You see 
some boards with the names of persons who have letters in 
the office, but whose residence is unknown. If your name 
is there, do not inquire ; just take your pencil and write 
your address under your name ; and if you are in Newgate, 
or the Old Bailey, the next morning a man with a red coat 
and a bag on his shoulders will be standing before you, and 
there is your letter — pay him, and he is gone. You see 
few persons passing in or out — not a tithe of the number 
entering and leaving your office in Boston. Only just 
before the mails close in the morning and evening is there 
any thing of a rush. I saw, once, a fellow come hurrying 
in, his face all perspiration, with a bag of papers on his 
shoulders ; as he sprang over the threshhold the window 
began to close ; one hop, and he was on the shelf; seizing 



84 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

the sash with one hand, he endeavored to empty his bag of 
papers inside ; the official struggled to close the window, 
and he to prevent it ; but authority prevailed over might, 
and the poor fellow's papers were scattered over the floor. 

The morning is the time for witnessing the bustle of this 
great concern. I have walked out about six o'clock, when 
the mails and carriers are about starting off for their vari- 
ous destinations. In 1837 twenty-seven mail coaches left 
the Post office nightly, for their destination — now not one. 
A great change has taken place in the modes of conveying 
both letters and the writers thereof. No longer, through 
any part of merrie England, is heard — 

" the twanging horn o'er yonder bridge, 



That with its wearisome but needful length 

Bestrides the wintry flood, in which the moon 

Sees her unwrinkled face reflected bright ; — 

He comes, the herald of a noisy world, 

With spattered boots, strapped waist, and frozen locks ; 

JSFews from all nations lumbering at his back. 

True to his charge, the close packed load behind, 

Yet, careless what he brings, his one concern 

Is to conduct it to the destined inn ; 

And, having dropped the expected bag, pass on. 

He whistles as he goes ; light-hearted wretch, 

Cold and yet cheerful : messenger of grief 

Perhaps to thousands, and of joy to some ; 

To him indifferent whether grief or joy. 

His horse and him, unconscious of them all. 

But, 0, the important budget ! " 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 85 

Now, to all parts of the kingdom and the world, the 
whistling engine conveys intelligence, or the tremblino* wire 
breathes words, like echoes, through annihilated space. 

In the morning you will see scores of men in red coats, 
with red horses, harnessed to red carts, called " accelera- 
tors,^'' (England is stately and classical — her baggage 
cars are ycleped " vans,") all red, and ready to start for 
their accustomed beats. The postman, whose beat is far 
away, is taken up by an accelerator and carried to his 
path, where commences his work of delivery. Within a 
circle of twenty-four miles radius, there are four hundred 
and seventy receiving houses. 

The London delivery of letters commences at six o'clock 
A. M. About seven hundred bags must be opened each 
morning, sorted into districts, and then into walks. Each 
carrier has his hill made out, and at the same moment all 
start at once. 

The cheap system has greatly increased the business of 
the Post Office, as it has opened channels in which the 
affection of the poorer classes can afford to run. A penny, 
two cents, sends a letter to any part of the kingdom. 1[f 
a letter comes to the Post Office, and the address of the 
person to whom it is directed is omitted, the postman 
takes it and searches the city through to find the owner ; it 
is then advertised, and then, if not called for, goes to the 
dead letter office. So in Liverpool, and, I suppose, in all 
the great cities of this land. But enough of this matter. 
I really did not intend to keep you so long here. 
8 



86 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

We now turn our face towards Westminster Abbey, a 
long walk and an exciting one ; for we shall pass through 
one of the greatest thoroughfares of London. We go up 
Ludgate hill into Fleet street, then into the Strand, a wide 
and fine street, and so filled with carriages of all sorts, 
from a coronetted coach and four, to a dog cart, that you 
can hardly cross. I have stood waiting for an opening for 
some minutes, much as here some poor dependent waits 
upon the grandee, who has places to give away, or the man 
who sat down upon the bank waiting for the river to run 
hy. You must watch your opportunity. You see a break, 
now — no, hold ; it has closed up ; there, push, one 
leap, and you are over. Here all drive on the left 
side, as the law directs ; and then they drive faster than 
with us. 

We do not meet with so many beggars as were to be 
met with formerly. England has poured a host of them 
upon American shores — and still they are sent off. When 
a poor-house is filled, then comes the order— send them 
to America. The ship I came over in was to have taken 
back one of these paupers who had been shipped off for 
us to support, but she ^^^as- not down to the wharf in 
season, and we left her. Now can any thing be meaner 
than this ? That fop and bottle of gas, Dickens, com- 
plains of much and many things among us, but if he met 
any thing equal to this, I will consent to stand in the pil- 
lory, or read his next Christmas story ! Another reason 
why so few paupers or street beggars are seen, is, the muni- 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 87 

cipal laws forbid them to ask alms in the street. They 
hold out the hat or hand, but seldom speak, unless sure 
that no police officer is in sight, 

I was passing one evening, just after dark, down the 
Strand, to my lodgings, when a boy, who might be eleven 
or twelve years of age, with a child in his arms but a few 
months old, stopped before me and began to plead his 
case ; he had hardly uttered a sound before a policeman 
had him by the ear, and, squealing like a pig, he was 
ordered home. Almost innumerable objects of pity meet 
you every where, but you are not annoyed by their solici- 
tations. And yet, this seems to be hard, that while there 
is no abundant and systematic charity here, as with us at 
home, the poor wretches can only shake their rags, and not 
plead vocally their own cause. The truth is, the English 
are weary of the descriptions given of the annoyance trav- 
ellers meet with from street beggars, and so they have put 
a stop to it. But you meet them still ; you meet them in 
going to church, sitting on the threshholds of shops, extend- 
ing their bony hands, and, with a look more powerful than 
words, they draw a few pence from your pocket. You 
have never been accustomed to seeing things as you see 
them here, unless among the foreign population of your 
country. Such extremes of wealth and poverty, It ought 
not to be so ; it need not be so ; as there is waste land 
enough, and waste gold enough, to make them all comfort- 
able, by giving them employment. 

As we are passing on you will observe we meet, about 



88 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

once in a quarter of a mile, a man peculiarly dressed. 
His dress is of dark blue cloth, with bright buttons; a 
patent leather belt around his waist; a citizen's hat, with a 
glazed crown ; white gloves ; the left hand, however, only 
gloved, the right hand glove carried in the left hand. No 
cane or stick of any kind, unless when you meet him at 
night, when he has in his hand a short, heavy stick, which 
you would not care to have your head run against. These 
men are of medium size, compact, and athletic. You see 
they seem to be in no hurry, but walk leisurely along. 
These are the London Police ; and they are the most gen- 
tlemanly persons I have found here. You may always 
address them with confidence ; it is their occupation to 
listen to you and answer ; they are particular in giving 
directions, and will go out of their way to put you in 
yours. London is their study. You may try them with 
hard questions, from " how many children has Queen Vic- 
toria ? " to "what is the color of Prince Albert's dog?" 
and they will answer you. Every lane, street and turning 
is in their minds, and almost every person. You can walk, 
I am told, in all parts of London, at all hours of the night, 
with the greatest safety ; but I have seen some parts thereof 
from visiting which I beg to be excused in the night sea- 
son! Until the year 1253 no nightly watch was instituted. 
Henry III. first conceived the plan ; and he revived an old 
Saxon law, that "If any man chance to be robbed, or by 
any means damnified, by any thief or robber, he to whom 
the charge of keeping that county, city, or borough, chiefly 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 89 

apertained, should competently restore the loss." In 
Shakspeare's time, the London police must have been but 
sorry fellows. Witness the Watch he introduces on a cer- 
tain occasion. It forcibly reminds one of the Police 
Court in a certain great city on your side of the water. 

The Chief of the Police is about to set a watch, and is 
examining some men for that purpose, with the aid of an 
assistant, Mr. Verges : — 

' ' Dogberry. Are you good men and true ? 

" Verges. Yea, or else it were pity but they should 
suffer salvation, body and soul. 

" Dogh. Nay, that were a punishment too good for 
them, if they should have any allegiance in them, being 
chosen for the prince's watch. 

" Ver. Well, give them their charge, neighbor Dog- 
berry. 

** Dogh. Well, you shall comprehend all vagrom men ; 
you are to bid any man stand in the prince's name. 

** Watch. How if he will not stand ? 

** Dogh. Why, then, take no note of him, but let him 
go ; and presently call the rest of the watch together, and 
give thanks that you are rid of a knave. 

'* Ver. If he will not stand when he is bidden, he is 
none of the prince's subjects. 

" Dogh. True, and they are to meddle with none but 
the prince's subjects. You shall also make no noise in the 
streets ; for, for the watch to babble and talk, is most tol- 
erable, and not to be endured. 
8* 



90 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

'* Watch. We will rather sleep than talk ; we know 
what belongs to a watch." 

Now, if the original did not answer to this portrait, the 
great painter would hardly have ventured on this lam- 
poon. 

The whole force amounts to four thousand seven hun- 
dred and forty-nine in number; and the expense of the 
whole the last year was about a jjiillion of dollars ; this 
includes the expense of all the magistrates, inspectors, 
trials, &c. The cost of the watch and police in the city 
of New York is five hundred thousand dollars, and that of 
Boston one hundred and thirty thousand dollars. The 
population of London, including Westminster, is more than 
double that of New York, and the cost of the police just 
double. Boston expends just about o?ie dollar per head 
police tax ; a sum no one can grudge, when feeling that 
his person and property are under the vigilant eye of an 
effective police. I would not undertake to censure your 
watch or police, but I really question whether they com- 
pare favorably with the police of this metropolis. I have 
walked at midnight from the north to the south end of 
Boston, after a physician, without meeting a single watch- 
man. You can hardly walk here a hundred rods without 
coming in contact with one. And then, so urbane, so 
ready to do any thing for jjou, that you are almost inclined 
to lift your hat when you pass one. 

Well, we have chatted on about matters and things in 
general until here we are at " Temple Bar." As we are 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 91 

* 
walking up the Strand we suddenly come to a vast gate, 

with a buttress on each side, and a large room, as a guard 
room, over head ; at the window you see a man at arms, on 
the look out for Frenchmen or Yankees, who might sud- 
denly enter London^ to the great danger of her Majesty's 
liege subjects ; this is only an effigy, however — mere 
stuffed armor. This is the boundary of 'London ; beyond 
this the Lord Mayor is a man of straiu. The ancient and 
noble city of London was inclosed within a wall, now, in- 
deed, among the things which were. Some of the old gates, 
however, still remain. Ludgate, and Aldgate, and Grip- 
plegate^ are gone. St. JoJinh gate in part remains, as an 
arch of stone, with flanking towers. I blundered into this 
one day, looking for Smithfield. We must see that by and 
by. This Temple Bar is a fine affair, and I always pause 
here to meditate a little on the processions which have 
passed under this arch — the armies which have defiled 
through it, and the noble cavalcades of lords and ladies, 
whose horses' hoofs have rung on these worn pavements. 
You can almost imagine you now see the grim and gory 
heads of the unhappy wretches who have been beheaded 
on Tower Hill, and whose heads have been afterwards 
affixed to this gate. What a taste had those old savages — 
not the primitive Britons, but the Englishmen of the time 
intervening between 1671, when this gate was built, and 
this present ! What a spectacle on which the pious might 
concentrate their meditations, as they passed this gate to 



92 RAMBLES IN EUKOPE. 

worship in St. Paul's ! What a memento-mori for kings, 
and queens, and dukes, and lords, as they rushed through 
this narrow pass, from London to Westminster and back. 
But those were times when kings ruled, and the passionate 
fools cut off a man's head as cheerfully as a dog's, and 
then feasted their eyes upon the horrid spectacle ! 0, 
royalty, bane of the world, check to the progress of the 
race, satire on man, when wilt thou come to a perpetual 
end? Let us comeback to this gate, because "thereby 
hangs a tale." You see on each front, right and left of 
the gothic windows, are two statues. On one side James 
I. and Elizabeth ; on the other, those two idiots, Charles 
I. and II. The first, the people here, at least, some of 
the nobility, call a martyr. You see, also, the massive 
oaken gates, still hung, and ready for service ; made some 
four or five inches thick, and filled with great spikes. A 
** man at arms," with his battle axe, would hack and hew 
a long time before they would be likely to give way. 

Koyalty does not come through these gates without per- 
mission of the Lord Mayor. Whenever the royal family 
inclines to visit London, the gates are closed and guards 
set ; at least, the old heroes in the gothic windows look 
sharp. Down comes the royal cortege from St. James's 
Palace, and up rides the Lord Mayor from his great stone 
house near the Exchange. His countenance expresses the 
determination to do or die ! claret will flow. The trumpet 
sounds wildly and shrill, the drums beat, the gates are 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 93 

barred, and all is ready. But the valiant Mayor lias no 
idea of standing a long siege ; lie intends to surrender ; 
but he will show what he could do in case of need. One 
of the royal attendants rides up to the gates, and, with the 
hilt of his sword, gives three thundering knocks ! ' ' Who's 
there?" shouts the Mayor. "The Queen's most excel- 
lent majesty." " Admit her," answers the Mayor. And 
now bolts grate, chains rattle, hinges groan, and the pon- 
derous gates swing open. At once the Lord Mayor runs, 
and, kneeling down, presents the keys of the city to the 
little Queen ; she takes them, and, handing them back 
again, says, "these keys cannot be in safer keeping than 
in that of my trusty servant, the Lord Mayor." The show 
is over, and the children are greatly amused ! 

On we go until we come to " Charing Cross," where we 
turn to the left, and proceed down Whitehall, towards 
Westminster Abbey. We will only notice one or two 
things. But know you, mon ami, we are now on ground 
rich in historic associations. The river bends here, and 
runs off at a right angle with its course above, and in this 
great bend are situated the Parliament Houses, and various 
other buildings of great interest. On our left hand passing 
down, and nearly opposite St. James's park, stands a plain 
stone building, of no great attraction, and yet it is one of 
sreat interest : it is Whitehall Palace, or, rather, the ban- 
queting house of the palace. A palace was built here in 
the thirteenth century, and it has been occupied for that 
purpose for years. Then the Blackfriars owned it, and no 



94 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

doubt it was the scene of more revelling, then, than when a 
royal palace ; — remembering the old song — 

" A jovial crew were the monks of old." 

Then the Archbishop of York purchased it, and for three 
hundred years, these fat, rich, lazy representatives of apos- 
tolic fidelity occupied it. Cardinal Wolsey was the last 
priestly incumbent, and it is said the sumptuous magnifi- 
cence of that time has never been surpassed. After his 
fall, it became a royal palace, and was called Whitehall. 
James I. purposed to rebuild it ; but the people, on whom 
crowned heads ride, refused to bear the burden, and re- 
belled. The banqueting house only was completed : this 
you see there fronting on the street. Here, in the old 
palace, lived Charles I., Cromwell, the second Charles, 
James II., and William. But to a stranger, the chief 
interest connected with this spot, arises from the fact that 
it is the scene of the decapitation of Charles, falsely called 
the martyr. To read old Dr. South's sermons, one would 
suppose Charles to be the embodiment of all goodness, and 
Cromwell the very personification of evil ; but posterity 
has reversed that judgment. Never man suffered more 
justly, if, indeed, it be just at any time to punish a king. 
For, according to the education given this species of the 
genus homo, they can do no wrong ; and, therefore, to 
punislrthem, is manifestly unjust. However, that stern 
and conscientious old hero, Cromwell, believed in no such 
nonsense. See you that wide window yonder ? through 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 95 

that the king was brought. His scaffold was erected on 
the spot on which we are now standing. It was not done 
in a corner ; but in the most public thoroughfare in West- 
minster. The trial had been conducted in Westminster 
Hall. Then the king was sent to St. James's palace, not 
far off, in the park of that name ; the next morning he was 
brought, or rather walked back to Whitehall, between 
two liaes of Cromwell's " ironsides." After resting 
awhile in his apartment, he was brought out through that 
window upon the platform, when he attempted to address 
the people assembled ; but so great was the number of 
soldiers around him, that the people could hear nothing. 
He took leave of his friends, himself the most composed of 
all, kneeled by the block, prayed a few moments, stretched 
out his hand as a signal, the flashing axe descended, and 
the head of Charles rolled upon the platform ! Let us go ; 
I am oppressed by such recollections. But while going, I 
will just mention a visit I made to the " Royal Academy 
of Arts." 

I see I have marked, on my catalogue of paintings which 
I there saw, three pictures, which impressed me, at the 
time, beyond any thing else — except the ingenuity dis- 
played in getting two shillings from my porte-monnaie. 
The first of these paintings was a representation of Charles 
taking leave of his children the night before his execution. 
The painter has succeeded in throwing into the pale coun- 
tenance all the agony and horror of such a scene. My 
very heart trembled ! On the other side of the entrance, 



96 EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

was a fine picture of Cromwell alone in his room, on the 
same night. One hardly knows which most to pity — the 
plebeian sovereign, or the sovereign victim. Cromwell is 
the very picture of suffering ; he seems to regret the terri- 
ble necessity, but still is unshaken in his resolution. If, 
on the fatal field which ended the civil war, Cromwell's 
" ironsides" had sunk before the cavaliers of Charles, he 
himself would now be in the king's position. Justice made 
the demand, and Cromwell was not the man to shrink from 
an unpleasant duty. 

On the opposite side of the room was a third picture — 
Cromwell viewing the body of Charles in his coffin. There 
lies the king, head and all ; (Cromwell's head, in a change 
of circumstances, would have been on *' Temple Bar ;''''') 
the red line across the neck shows the track of the axe — 
and the old republican stands holding up the lid of the 
coffin with one hand, the other rested on his hip. He 
seems calm now — the die is cast, his country is saved, and 
Grod will take care of the rest. I shall not soon forget 
these paintings. And Cromwell ! — the grand Republic of 
Great Britain, which will be called the " Kepublic of the 
Isles," will, before 1950, place him in Westminster Abbey. 
Amen. So let it be. 



LETTER X. 



London, August 5, 1850. 

My Dear Bro. S : 

I AM a long time in bringing you into Westminster 
Abbey, but I was a long time in getting there myself. So 
much to see, so much to inquire about, you make but slow 
progress here. But we are here at last, and there is no 
mistaking that dingy, sooty, odd, old pile yonder ; that is 
the Abhey. No one at all familiar with English history, 
but must feel his heart throb at the bare mention of West- 
minster Abbey ; how much more when his eye falls on it 
for the first time, and he hears his footsteps echo along its 
aisles and corridors. What multitudes sleep here. Hearts 
which swelled with hope, or shrank with fear, or burned 
with envy and hate, are silent and senseless here. How 
many, hunted through life by malice, and tormented by per- 
secutions, have at last " fled to sanctuary," and laid them 
down and slept in Westminster Abbey ! It has operated as 
a motive to exertion in the walks of literature, science, and 
9 97 



98 RAMBLES 'in EUROPE. 

art, and to heroic action on tbe battle-field ; in the midst 
of scenes of blood and carnage, in the smoke, dust, and 
thunder of battle, many an arm has been strengthened, and 
many a heart nerved, by the thought, "I shall have a 
monument in Westminster Abbey." And here they sleep, 
hundreds of such, the great ones of earth, the renowned, 
both for virtue and vice ; the marked men and women of 
their age, are here, to rest until the trump of the archangel 
shall tumble these old walls into ruins. How quiet it 
seems here. My first visit was early in the morning — the 
multitude were not here. I do not want any persons 
around me at such times ; it seems an outrage on one's 
sensibilities to see the gay, and careless, and profane, 
crowding along these aisles, laughing, joking, and indulging 
in coarse wit. I was here alone, almost. You can now 
feel the silence ! What if all who sleep here could come 
out now and crowd together in these aisles ! How they 
would stare and wonder ; but no danger, the time for that 
gathering is not yet : — 

" After life's fitful fever they sleep well." 

I cannot give you an idea of the exterior of this old 
structure. I have read many a description ; but, when I 
saw it, it was unlike them all. If you and your readers 
have not seen a good engraving of it, you must wait until 
you do. 

We are told that it was built by Henry III., and his 
successor Edward I., and the abbots of subsequent reigns ; 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 99 

and was not finished until the skilful hand of Sir Christo- 
pher Wren put the finishing touch to it. 

You see a part of the building, or rather a beautiful 
structure joined to the Abbey ^ of most elaborate finish ; 
that is called " Henry the Seventh's Chapel." It was 
commenced in 1503 and finished in nine years, and cost 
the pretty little sum of a million of dollars, of money stolen 
from the people. And for what ? to build a tomb for 
a king to rest in ! What an idea these kings and queens 
have of the peculiar sanctity of their flesh ! Royal blood ! 
Royal nonsense ! But hold, my meditative vein is being dis- 
turbed. I shall be unfitted for entering this great mauso- 
leum. We pass from the street into an open space, walk 
along a narrow sidewalk beset by scores of ragamuffins 
with descriptions of the Abbey to sell for " only a shilling," 
until you reach a narrow and low door ; this is the en- 
trance. I know not if the great doors are ever opened, 
except when a sovereign is crowned. Step in — you are 
in the celebrated Poefs corner ! Tread softly — precious 
dust is here ! Old England has been rich in this rare gift. 
What a line of inspired bards, from King Alfred, who was 
quite a poet, (and was probably making rhymes when he 
let the peasant's wife's cakes burn,) down to the last poet- 
laureate, Southey, whom I have never esteemed a poet of a 
high grade at all. Well, here they are ; that is to say, 
here are some memorials of them. 

But hold ; as you enter, a man stands at the door-side, 
who will take your umbrella and cane, and give you a 



100 RAMBLES IN EUROPK. 

tiokot for thom ; and whon you return, ho will oliargo you 
eight cents for taking oaro of them for you. Speaking of 
canes, reminds me of a word of caution to such of your 
i-eaders as may visit this region — never take your canes 
with you in your perambulations ; for as this impoverished 
government taxes every thing, from a coach to a cockle- 
shell, your cane will cost you as much as your dinnere. 
An umbreUa you must have. 

You find yourself now surrounded by the poetic talent of 
the kingdom. We cannot specify each ; it is impossible 
in a letter. Some thing's here impress you by their beauty, 
others by their incongruity. There is Garriek, the 
actor, before you — a full length marble statue, his arms 
extended, and his hands sustaining a heavy curtain, which 
falls from above and divides over his head. Under one of 
his arms, in the back ground, is seen a small bust of Shaks- 
peare. The act of lifting the curtain and showing the bust 
of the poet, says, better than words could, " I exhibit his 
beauties ; " indicating at once his employment and his 
talent. 

There is Gay, and his epitaph is at once foolish and blas- 
phemous : — 

" Life is a jest, and I shall show it — 
I thottifht so once, but now I hnmt? it," 

Pi-etty stuff for Westminster Abbey ! There is the magnifi- 
cent composer, Haydn, who, though an Austrian by birth, 
was made doctor of music by the ITuivei-sity of Oxford, in 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 101 

1704, wlicn lie Bpont 8ome time in England. I spent some 
time, like Old Mortality in 8cott — not exactly cutting the 
letterH anew, but bruBhing out the dust and dirt from an 
old tablet, and found it to be the tomb.stone of M. Drayton, 
a poet, who died in 1631. And there is the phiz of Dry- 
den, the man who Bang CromweH'B praise; and then, when 
Charles II. came into power, sang still more loudly in 
praise of royalty. 

Vou wonder that gome are not here — and then you won- 
der, still more, that some are here, whom one would hardly ^ 
expect to find in such a place. Why is not Charles Wesley 
liere ? — a finer poet never lived. Why is that Southey 
hero V — at one time ai red rejrMican and a socialist ! 9 
Anon, a poet-/«?ir6«^<3 .^ What a sudden change. I know 
not why it is, but I do not like Southey ! He seems to me 
a man of no principle in particular — but all in general. 
An India rubber man, of low price and easily bought — 
that little piece of white marble on the wall was his exact 
value ! 

We must leave the Poet^s corner. Let me say to you 
and your readers, that, as this old Abbey is in the usual 
form of a cross, this Poefs corner is in the end of one of 
the arms of the cross, called, in architecture, the transept. 
Now, if you will imagine a huge cross laid upon the ground, 
you may get an idea of the interior of this great mass. 
Starting from this spot, where we have been standing, and 
marching straight on, we pass to the other end of this cross 
piece of the cross. On our right hand, when we have 
9* 



102 , KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

reached the centre, is the head of the cross, and on the left 
runs off the main body of the cross, which forms the main 
nave or aisle of the church. Standing now in the centre, 
and turning to the right, you face the head of the cross ; 
and here is the choir proper, where worship should have 
been celebrated, and perhaps is now on great occasions. 
Upon this part of the Abbey has been built Henry the Sev- 
enth's Chapel, raised a little above the nave of the Abbey. 
You enter it by a short fiight of steps. The great aisle 
runs east and west. In the centre of the nave, and close 
by where the two pieces of the cross are joined, is the place 
fitted up for worship, which is celebrated here twice a day, 
at 11, A. M., and 3, P. M. 

Now the whole of this space — I mean on each side of 
the aisles, is filled up with monuments, epitaphs, and in- 
scriptions. And, what seems an incongruity, the most of 
them to military heroes, blood shedders ! Few scholars ; 
few, if any, inventors of useful improvements in the arts of 
peaceful industry ; few, if any, martyrs to human freedom. 
Yonder stands Mrs. Siddons, a full length statue in white 
marble. And who was Mrs. Siddons ? An actress ! 
There is Matthew Hale, the eminent jurist, the man of 
integrity, of honor, of truth. But what is that he holds in 
his hands ? A steelyard with a sliding weight, instead of 
a pair of balances ! I called the attention of one of the 
beadles in waiting to the metallic lampoon. " What are 
those steelyards in the hand of the judge intended to indi- 
cate ? " asked I. ** Justice,^^ said the obliging showman. 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 103 

" Balances are the S3aii1bol of justice," said I, " but that 
sliding weight suggests hriheryy "So, so," said the 
man in the black gown, and he burst into a hearty laugh ; 
" I never thought of that before,"^ said he. We cannot 
pause to offer incense to these sons of Mars. How many of 
them have said, as they went into battle in the morning, 
** Victory, or a place in Westminster Abbey." 

One monument I see here by order of the " General 
Court of Massachusetts Colony," to whom, I have forgot- 
ten. One, in basso relievo, of the apprehension and death 
of Andre ; and one principal figure here is that of Wash- 
ington. He is now wearing his third head! Not for 
crimes has he been thus lynched — but by his admirers. 
So popular is the " Father of his Country " on this side 
the water, that three times his head has been broken off 
and carried away. But the great interest is in visiting the 
chapels. A visitor will be interested in spending hours 
among these monuments — he will go, and return again 
and again, if he have time. But while the body of the 
Ahhey is open freely to visitors, you must pay your shilling 
to enter the chapels ; and then, your conductor hurries you 
on from, one thing to another so rapidly, that you can 
hardly bring away an image of what you saw. 

We go back, now, to the choir, near which we enter the 
chapels. The pavement of the choir presents, probably, 
as fine a specimen of the mosaic (from a G-reek word, sig- 
nifying polished, beautiful) as you will find this side of 
l^orae. A piece of about two feet in diameter, represent- 



104 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

ing a full blown rose, struck me as singularlj beautiful. 
Into this pavement have been wrought, with infinite labor, 
and vast expense, countless pieces of jasper, alabaster, 
porphyry, lapis lazuli, and marbles, of all sizes, and beau- 
tifully arranged. 

Waste, waste, one says all the while. But you must 
remember this was done when the word of a king was 
power, and all was done for the throne and nothing for the 
people. And now the cry of poverty, poverty, is heard all 
through the land. Go from such a place as this, or the 
*• jewel room " in the tower, to the poorer markets at night- 
fall, or the drinking rooms, and poor lodging houses, and 
your heart will ache. The poverty and degradation of 
England are shameful to her. 

We come back. A crowd of some score or so are now 
gathered at the iron gate which leads into the chapels. 
''Pay — pay." Shell out your shillings, gentlemen. 
Yictoria's horses must have oats, and Albert's hounds 
meat! Having paid the shilling, a conductor, whose 
business it is, starts off, and we follow. Now understand, 
what are called chapels are not separate buildings, but 
spaces around the walls of the building at the east end of 
the Abbey, and in which are found some fine monuments 
to royalty and other notable persons. 

The tomb of Henry YIT., who erected this building, is 
at the east end of the building. It is within an iron screen 
of most beautiful workmanship, and the figures are of cast 
copper, and the whole was once gilt ; old time has passed 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 105 

over it so often that the gilding is worn off. In one of these 
recesses is a magnificent marble bust of Mary, Queen of 
Scots. It looks like the purest wax. And sucb beauty. 
Some rogue, not having the fear of any thing before his eyes, 
broke and carried off one of the delicate fingers. Mary and 
Elizabeth, the sisters, are here, side by side, the Uoody and 
the ambitious ; their differences are all forgotten. Many 
of these monuments and statues are shockingly mutilated ; 
it is said, by Cromwell and his " roundheads," but I do 
not believe it ; more likely by the drunken, carousing cav- 
aliers of the kings ! In Edward^ the Confessor'' s chapel, 
the kings and queens are crowned — a room twenty feet 
square, perhaps. Thirteen kings and queens in succession 
have sat in that old arm chair. It was Edward's. I 
planted myself in it, but feel no more like a sovereign since 
than before ! I did not know but I might catch some of the 
virtue, but one is quite as likely to catch, something else. 
When Victoria sat in it last it was not so shabby as now. 
It had a heavy cloth of gold, and the whole room was 
superbly fitted up. But look ! a stone ! And would you 
believe it, that great stone which lies under this chair was 
Jacob's pillar ! So it is said ; and it is as true as that the 
wood of the true cross was discovered, or that Charles I. 
was a martyr, or that the Duke of Wellington is the 
greatest man that ever lived. But I will tell you what is 
true. On this same stone the kings of Scotland used to 
be crowned ! Edward the First gave the Scotch regalia to 
this chapel, and this stone was brought from Scone in 1267. 



106 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

Much negotiation and many treaties have been made about 
this stone. The Scotch almost worshipped it. Well, it is 
an old stone, and if it could speak it could reveal some 
strange things.* 

One can spend days here pleasantly, if it were open to 
you freely, but you must follow the chaperon, who has his 
story to tell, which he has repeated hundreds of times, and 
you must pass out when the story is done. If you want to 
go in again, pay another shilling. 

Into the vaults, under the Abbey, I had no wish to 
enter, and, I suppose, they are not open. Royal dust is 
there. All the sovereigns of England to George II., since 
the erection of the Abbey, are buried here. James II. 
died in exile, you know, and when he rises, he will find 
himself somewhere in France. 

Well, farewell to ye, old Abbey ! My hours of musing 
in your dim shadows and sounding aisles have been pleas- 

* There is an old tradition that this stone was brought to Jeru- 
salem, and thence transported to Spain, and thence to Ireland, and 
afterwards to Scotland, and that all the Scottish kings were 
crowned upon it. And the following lines were written about it : 

Ni fallit fatmn — Scoti quocunque locatuni 
Invenient lapidem — regnare tenentur ibidem. 

" Or fate is blind, or Scots shall find 
Where'er this stone — the royal throne." 

I wonder Barnum does not endeavor to purchase this stone of 
Queen Victoria, or, at least, get permission for it to make the tour 
of the United States. This stone is about two feet long and one 
foot wide, and, perhaps, four inches thick ; not hewn, but rough. 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 107 

ant and mournful to the soul, " like the memory of joys 
that are past." I suppose all the John Bulls who saw this 
long, lank, lean Yankee gazing about your solemnities, sup- 
posed he was thinking " what a speculation I could make 
of this in Yankeedom ! " No ; I mused on greatness, glory, 
ambition and change — grew sad, and departed. But I 
will tell you what I did think while in the great chair of 
state — if the people of this realm were wise, the last 
monarch has occupied it who will do so. Or, at any rate, 
they would so retrench in the expenses of government that 
the burden would not be felt by the masses. They would 
hew down the trees on the thousands of acres of the best 
of land, now kept for parks and hunting grounds for purse 
proud noblemen, and let them grow grain for the hungry 
poor. They would send the millions of useless gold in 
plates and jewelry, to the mint, and make it circulate, as 
did Napoleon, when he found the twelve apostles in silver 
in some Italian church ; he said, " I will make you itiner- 
ate," and he converted them into coin. Let us retire ; the 
shadows are deepening in the aisles, and silence assumes 
her place in the Abbey. 



LETTER XI. 



London, August 6, 1850. 

MoN Ami : — 

I LEFT you at tlie Abbey door ; we meet again near the 
same spot. 

I was very anxious to visit tbe House of Lords, as, in- 
deed, all are who come to this city of wonders. But, then, 
you must know it is not an easy thing to get in ; not that 
the entrance is so difficult, so narrow, or so steep, but the 
rules, my friend, the rules. You do not expect to visit 
any show place, or menagerie, without a permit, nor can 
you here. You must have a pass from a peer, or some 
grandee, or from your minister. And now, I had called 
on Mr. Lawrence, at 138 Piccadilly, but he was out of the 
city, and I had not the honor of an acquaintance, then, 
with any lord ; and as Victoria and Albert were both out 
of the city, I was in a strait. But I must go in, for I 
could not return and be obliged to say I did not visit the 
House of Lords. My host sympathized with me, and so 
108 



RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 109 

did my fellow boarders. But, said I to them, I shall get 
into the House to-day ! I feel thankful for that character- 
istic of the Yankees — go-aheadativeness. About three 
o'clock, P. M., I started for Westminster, up by " High 
Holborn." I wished to see that hill and street, both risino- 
about as much as your Cornhill, in Boston. Did you ever 
hear of '' Day & Martin's " Blacking ? " Ask me if I 
ever heard of the man in the moon ! " I hear you say. 
Those little stone bottles, I see them now, as when a child, 
and that label— " Day & Martin, High Holborn." What 
great men were Day & Martin, I used to think when a 
boy. And, indeed, they gathered money enough to bring 
them a patent of nobility, and kept a coach. I blundered 
upon an old stone chapel, upon the front of which I read 
this inscription, which I copied into my note book : — 
" French Protestant Episcopal Chapel, established by 
Charles II., 1661." And close by, an antique building, 
with this inscription, " School for girls, 1747." This, 
then, was a resting place for the poor hunted Huguenots, 
driven from France. The exiled King Charles II., who 
found for a time an asylum in France, gave them refuge 
in his own kingdom, when restored. 

At twenty minutes to five I found myself opposite the 
Parliament House ; a crowd was gathered to witness the 
gathering of the lords, temporal and spiritual, as they sev- 
erally arrived and were set down at their door. Some in 
coach and outriders, some on horseback, attended by their 
grooms, some in a dog-cart; let not my readers imagine 
10 



110 EAMBLES IN EUKOPE. 

tbis a burlesque ; a dog-cart is a most fashionable carriage, 
on two low wheels, with a box under the body for dogs, 
when going on shooting excursions. 

I directly saw the crowd running toward a particular 
point, and, turning my eyes in that direction, saw coming 
towards me an old gentleman on a bay horse, his knees 
drawn almost up to his saddle bow, his chin dropped upon 
his breast, with an enormous excess of nose, projecting far 
ahead, like the cut-water of a canal boat, his body, lank 
and lean, swaying right and left, a dull grey eye, and 
sunken cheeks, plainly dressed, with a silver star on his 
coat collar — and the conquerer of Napoleon rode past 
me! England's idol — the iron duke. Waterloo, with 
all its horrors, its thunder, its flames, its shouts, its furious 
charges, its shrieks, and groans, and agonies, its destinies, 
and results, all came floating past. How many wives has 
that feeble old man made widows — ^how many mothers 
childless ! Look at him, as his well trained horse walks 
slowly past ; it was next to seeing Napoleon. You see 
only a man, and one of no remarkable talents ; cool and 
self-possessed ; his great quality obstinacy. You can 
almost hear that, as his head drops upon his breast at each 
step of his horse — '* I wont." I was glad to have seen 
this man on horseback for the first time ; I saw him next in 
the House of Lords. 

Behind, at the distance of two rods, came his equery, 
also on horseback, and dressed in a yellow livery. Wel- 
lington rode up to the sidewalk, swung himself off his 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. Ill 

"horse, and went in ; his man rode up and took charge of 
his horse, and rode back. In a few minutes a splendid car- 
riage and four drove up to the door ; it was empty. I at 
first supposed it to be the representative of some grandee, 
who was unable after dinner to get to the House, but a 
gentleman informed me that it was the Duhe^s carriage ; it 
was here to take him oflf when he should have looked into 
the house. 

It was now full five o'clock, and the House opens at this 
hour. But I am not yet in. 

To go, or not to go, that is the question. 
Whether 'tis best to suffer all this fear — 
To wish, and gaze, and quietly rettirn — 
To be brow-beaten by some English peers, 
And to return and say " I did'nt see 'em," 
Or by a Yankee trick to end it ! 

I decided the matter at once. Taking one of my cards 
from my pocket, I hastily wrote under my name the magic 
words, " Boston, United States ; " then marching boldly up 
to the sentry at the outer door, I handed it to him, remark- 
ing, "Send this card to Lord Brougham." He passed it 
to another, and I followed it into the ante-room ; in a few 
minutes out came the noble lord ; I bowed — he seized my 
hand and shook it with great cordiality. " I an\ happy to 
see you, sir ; I will introduce you to the House, sir ; come 
in, sir." I followed him, of course, supposing he would 
give me in charge of some lacquey, who would conduct me 



112 KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

to some quiet place in the gallery, where I could see with- 
out being seen ; but ah, 

" The plans of mice and men 
Gang oft awry," — 

and I found myself on the floor of the House of Lords. 
I had more faith in mysterious influences, for it must be 
that seeing Wellington had inspired me ; for never man 
attempted more rasli things than that same duke, and he 
succeeded by perseverance. He conquered Napoleon — 
why should not a Yankee conquer that greater tyrant, 
etiquette f 

The rules require that you be "in full dress. ^^ Well, 
I was fully dressed. I had on a Quaker frock coat, but- 
toned up to the chin, grey pants, black satin vest, black 
stock, with a green cotton umbrella under my arm ! 

I marched in ; the gallery was filled, but the house was 
thinly attended. Immediately Lord Brougham commenced 
making a speech of about twenty minutes, as I supposed 
for my especial benefit, as it related to nothing then before 
the House, but something he had done sometime before. 
Not more than twenty members were present, with but two 
Bishops. "Wellington was walking around, with his hands 
behind him, but in a few minutes he left. It is, I sup- 
pose, some time before they get fairly under way, and the 
session runs far into the night. 

One of the gentleman ushers came and made himself 
sociable, pointing out to me the notable characters present. 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 113 

After standing until I was weary, I sat down on the steps 
of the throne, a little elevated platform, with crimson hang- 
ings, such as I think you often see, or may see, in Odd- 
Fellows' halls. 

I was not struck with the appearance of " the lords." 
I have seen a gathering of country farmers, to discuss some 
agricultural project, whose appearance was quite as respect- 
able and intelligent. Lounging on the benches, chatting 
about the recent races, or the coming shooting season, they 
seemed to take but little interest in what was going on. 

Brougham is the master spirit, and the working man ; 
busy, bustling, cross — he keeps something moving. 
Look at him, as he stands there by the wool sack, address- 
ing " my lord," the speaker. He is about five feet ten 
inches in height, spare, straight, and nervous. His head is 
not large, and covered with grey hair, which needs a brush. 
His forehead is low and narrow, his organs of perception 
large, and his firmness rises up like a small tower. His 
eyes, grey and twinkling, retiring far back into his head. 
His nose, small, thin, and turns up at the end, as though 
designed for rooting up evils. When he walks his heels 
come down upon the floor earnestly, saying thereby, '* I 
am here." He speaks quick, and his voice drives into 
your ear like a jet of water. You can see his wonderful 
powers of sarcasm all over his face ; he looks as though he 
would hite. " The members are afraid of him. He is a 
great man. I wished to hear him on some great question, 
but could not. 

10* 



114 EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

The old Houses of Parliament, yonr readers will remem- 
ber, were burned down in 1834, and tlie new House is not 
yet completed ; but I see enough is done to give one an 
idea of its magnificence when finished. It is a little above 
the present place of meeting. When finished, it will have 
cost, I learn, the pretty sum of three million five hundred 
thousand dollars ! 

The room in which the lords are sitting is a magnificent 
one, about fifty feet in length, and thirty in breadth, 
and thirty in height, elaborately finished, and richly 
gilt. The throne is at the end at which the members enter, 
a door being on each side. The benches are on each side, 
running lengthwise, and covered with crimson cloth. 

In the centre is an oblong something, about two feet 
high, and three wide, and five long, covered with crimson 
cloth, called the wool sack. On this was seated a figure 
with a black gown, and a wig made of white wool. I 
suppose it was alive, as I saw it move a little ; as the 
back was towards me, I could not see the face. This must 
have been the Speaker of the House. But little interest 
seemed to be taken by any one in what was before the 
House. Lord Wellington sauntered about for a few min- 
utes, with his hands behind him, and then left the hall, 
entered his fine carriage, and returned to Apsley House, or 
somewhere else. Some lay down upon their elbows, some 
yawned, some stood, but all indifferent but Brougham. 
He must have been elected to the peerage as a worker. 
At the end of the hall opposite the throne are three 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 115 

pens, about ten feet square. The centre one is occupied 
by lawyers, when cases are being tried before the House ; 
the right and left, for reporters and spectators. I went in 
there one afternoon, as on these occasions no introduction 
is necessary, when a case was being tried before Lord 
Brougham. It was an appeal to the " House of Lords," 
and this sounds large ; but it is, in fact, an appeal to the 
decision of a single judge. Brougham was on the bench, 
one or two members of the House were present. Two 
lawyers, in black gowns and those hideous wigs, were in 
the pen to manage the cause. The pleading counsel rose 
to read his brief. It was a question about some fisheries 
in Scotland. 

Brougham was writing as fast as his nimble pen could 

fly over the paper. The lawyer read on until he came to 

an important point, where it was written, "I beg your 

lordship's particular attention to this point.^'' " I give my 

attention to all points," hastily replied the lord judge. "I 

beg your lordship's particular attention to this point," 

read again the lawyer. " I give particular attention 

to all points; it is my business here," replied his 

lordship again. But what's writ, is writ — and the poor 

lawyer must repeat it again. An explosion took place. 

'* I give particular attention to all points presented here. 

I cannot allow such language to be used — nobody but a 

Scotch lawyer would use such language;" and scratch, 

scratch, scratch, went his pen all the while ; reminding one 

of what has been said of the ** Chronotype man " of your 



116 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

good city of Boston, — that he will write with a pen in 
each hand, jog the cradle with his foot, dictate to another, 
and be reading a volume of Parker's sermons at the same 
time. 

When the brief was finished, his lordship said, "I shall 
move that the case be disposed of thus and so ; " and thus 
ended the cause. This is the " Court of the Queen's 
Bench," and the sovereign is supposed to be present to 
hear the appeal of her injured subjects ; but, in fact, just 
now, she, the sovereign, is in Osborn, somewhere in the 
country, with her royal consort, and royal babies, and royal 
horses and hounds, spending the summer. But she is 
supposed to be present in the persons of her judges. 

I may as well here give your readers a general view of 
the legislation of this Realm, and they may compare it 
with their own at their leisure. The Crown appoints all 
the Ministers of State, the Judges, Bishops and Arch- 
bishops ; the first may be removed at any time, but the 
last are life appointments. The Crown alone has the 
power of suspending the execution of the laws, and of 
granting mercy. It also appoints all ambassadors to 
other governments ; has also the power of declaring war 
and of making peace ; of creating and directing fleets and 
armies ; but as money is essential in these matters, and as 
Parliament alone can raise money, this fearful power is 
held in check. The Crown calls a Parliament, and ad- 
journs or dissolves it. It is assisted by a ** privy Coun- 
cil," chosen by itself. 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 117 

The Parliament is a body of immense power ; it can 
change the national religion, and hence the jealousy which 
exists, and, as I think, justly, of the introduction of per- 
sons who are not supporters of Protestant Christianity, 
into Parliament. Since I have been here much excitement 
and music have been created by the attempt to introduce 
one of the Rothschild's into the House of Commons, he 
being a Jew. He was elected, I think, by one of the 
London boroughs, and because of his wealth. He came 
before the House, the other day, to take the usual oaths, 
and he went smoothly on until he came to that part which 
says, " All this I swear, on the faith of a Christian ; " 
but when he came to that last great word he stopped, for 
he is not a Christian ! A tremendous excitement followed, 
and the discussion continued for days. He was denied his 
seat. " It is folly to exclude a man because of his belief," 
said the radicals. " It would be establishing a dangerous 
precedent," said the conservatives; and there the matter 
rests. 

The Parliament can alter the Constitution ; and thus, 
when it judges it expedient, they may be converted into a 
Republic, and Victoria regina be simply Mrs. Guelph. 

The House of Lords consists of twenty-four bishops, and 
as many peers and grandees as can be found, or as the 
Crown may be pleased to appoint; the present number 
being about four hundred and ten. 

The House of Commons consists of six hundred and 
fifty-eight members — English, four hundred and seventy- 



118 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

one ; Welsh, twenty-nine ; Scotch, fifty-three ; Irish, one 
hundred and five. In the Commons all supplies are voted ; 
so that if, to sustain the prerogatives of the Crown, peers 
enough should be created to out-vote the Commons, still no 
money can be raised. And your readers will recollect that 
this was the bone between Charles I. and the Parliament. 
" Give me money for my women, horses, and hounds," 
said the king. " Grive us our rights, for ourselves, our 
wives and children," said the Commons ; he stood on his 
prerogative, and they on chartered right, until he stood 
on the scaffold, and was made a head shorter. 

The duration of a Parliament is dependent on the sov- 
ereign's pleasure, not to exceed, however, seven years ; 
but they have been much less, generally. The session 
commences in February, and closes in season for shooting ! 

They are just now about closing up, and hurrying off to 
shoot the grouse, which a poor man must not touch, even 
if they destroy his grain and spoil his garden ; he may 
be hanged for shooting game ! But, I opine, if the game 
laws, and some others, are not changed soon, there will be 
some taller shooting than grouse. Albeit, I hope not for 
it, nor recommend it. Peaceful reforms are better. 

I have not gained admission, as yet, into the Commons, 
as our Minister is out of town^ and so are all the members 
of my acquaintance. 

We will pass through Westminster Hall, and then to 
our lodgings. This old hall, standing directly opposite the 
Abbey, is one of the most interesting places to be met 



EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 119 

with. Its associations are inspiring and painful. For 
seven centuries it has been the scene of Royalty's most 
splendid pageants. You are within it ; look around you ! 
The old hall was built by William Rufus, as a banqueting 
room ; it is said this is the largest room in Europe unsup- 
ported by pillars. It is two hundred and thirty-nine feet 
long, sixty-eight feet broad, and ninety feet high. The 
entire roof is of carved oak, of elaborate design. Look 
up, now ; it seems as though some of those pieces of oak 
would drop at your feet ; but there they have hung since 
Richard II. rebuilt it, in 1397. Coronation banquets are 
held here. It used to be the custom for the sovereign 
horn, not elect, to go from the Tower, the night before, and 
sleep in Westminster. George lY. slept in the house of 
the Speaker of the Commons, the night before his corona- 
tion. Imagine yourself there, or, rather, that the pageant 
is here before us. George has been in procession to the 
Abbey, sat in the great chair and on the stone, the bauble, 
called a crown, placed upon his brow, and now back they 
have marched into this room, where ten thousand persons 
have been feasted, and one of the most sumptuous enter- 
tainments which could be provided is prepared. 

Hark ! a trumpet peals through the hall, a door swings 
open, and in rides a mailed warrior, upon a splendid 
charger richly comparisoned, who flings down a glove, and 
calls on all who have aught against the king to come forth, 
and he is ready to do battle for the mighty sovereign, whose 
champion he is. Ah, what if, just then, all who had been 



120 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

wronged by that handsome scape-grace had suddenly ap- 
peared before the august assembly, and made known their 
grievances — some appetites would have been less sharp 
for the subsequent courses, I opine. 

But the State trials which have been held here, clothe it 
with sackcloth and mourning. Sir Thomas More, Lady 
Jane Grray, the Dukes of Norfolk and Strafford, Charles I., 
the seven Bishops in the reign of James II. ; and it was 
here that that farce, the trial of Warren Hastings, took 
place, when Burke made his splendid effort, and fell in a 
false fainting fit into the arms of Sheridan, who was too 
drunk to hold him ; when noble ladies screamed and 
fainted, and lords blew their noble noses, and — justice was 
satisfied, and the Christian English nation proceeded in 
their robbery of the unhappy East Indians. 

Grood nio'ht. 

o 



LETTER XII. 



LoNDOJr, Aug. 7. 1850. 

My Dear Friend S : 

Hampton Court and Windsor Castle are spots of inter- 
est which one must visit when on this side the water. The 
last is now undergoing repairs, and, of course, is closed to 
visitors. The first may always be seen. You may go by 
coach, or by water, or by railroad ; distance, thirteen miles. 
We crossed over Waterloo Bridge, and took the cars, and 
in thirty minutes were at Hampton Court. When you 
first see this celebrated place, it reminds you of some old 
college you may have seen ; a pile of dingy, brick build- 
ings stands before you, in nothing remarkable, except for 
their associations. These buildings are erected around 
four courts, so that they are very extensive. The old 
palace was built by Cardinal Wolsey, and then given by 
him to that bloody villain, Henry YIII. It was the 
favorite residence of his many wives. Charles II. and his 
concubines delighted in this retreat. It is now filled with 
11 121 



122 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

paintings of the best pencils, and it is a wearisome walk 
through the public rooms. 

Queen Victoria, not wishing to reside here, gives the use 
of it, or portions of it, to some decayed sprigs of nobility, 
who reside here. And it may give your readers some 
idea of its vastness, when they learn that seven hundred of 
these poor ladies reside here ; and yet, in a walk of an 
hour from room to room, we entered none of their apart- 
ments. We saw their bell knobs, and their names, here 
and there, but saw not one of them. 

The most interesting room is the hall called Wolsey^s 
Hall. It is the banqueting hall, highly decorated and 
ornamented — but silent and deserted. I could fancy I 
heard the poor old Cardinal saying ; 

" Farewell — a long farewell to all my greatness ! 
This is the state of man : To-day he puts forth 
The tender leaves of hope ; to-morrow blossoms, 
And bears his blushing honors thick upon him. 
The third day comes a frost — a killing frost — 
And, when he thinks, good easy man, full surely 
His greatness is a ripening — nips his root ; 
And then he falls as I do." 

Let US go out ; I am oppressed ; here I seem to see all as it 
was, and as it is — where are the actors ? 

The grounds are finely laid out ; magnificent avenues lead 
off in four directions from the palace, for a mile, or more, 
through the *' grand old woods," the trees trimmed up so 
that there is a perfect wall of leaves on either hand ; ponds 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 123 

and fountains in all directions. A magnificent pile of 
water works stands a little distance from the buildings, on 
the avenue to London, which, it is said, was the greatest 
curiosity of the age. It has not played for many years. 
The inventor and builder died suddenly, and the secret by 
which it is started died with him. 

Yonder is a maze, or labyrinth, covering about a quarter 
of an acre, but you will walk six miles and then not find 
your way out. 

Pay a sixpence there, and let us go into the garden. 
Magnificent. Yonder is the greenhouse, in which is a 
single vine one hundred and ten feet in length, and bearing 
three thousand clusters, or about a ton of grapes. But do 
not think of waiting for a cluster — they go exclusively to 
the Queen's table. Scores of orange and lemon trees, in 
boxes, are blooming and bearing here. A fine band of 
music is playing in front of the palace, and hundreds are 
walking, laughing, and romping about. I should as soon 
laugh at a funeral as in such a place. I am, at such times, 
almost a Swedenborgian. I seem to see pale ghosts glide 
past me, wringing their hands in agony, and seeking, but 
vainly, for lost companions and departed joys. 

The bell rings, the doors are closed — visitors retire, and 
we must depart. 

Back again to London ; and now off for Grreenwich and 
"Woolwich ; we must see the famous hospital and observa- 
tory. 

We go down to London Bridge^ and find little steamers 



124 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

plying up and down the river, crowded with passengers. 
Six-pence pays for the sail, in this canal of soft mud — the 
Thames. Your wonder will be, how a steamer can work 
her way through such a crowd. Mud-boats, fish-boats, coal- 
boats, steam-boats, sailing-boats, with larger craft, and rafts 
of logs, fill the little stream from side to side. 

Our boat is full, the bell rings and away she dashes. 
The skipper takes his stand on one of the paddle-boxes, 
and the man at the wheel keeps his eye on him ; he lifts 
his right arm, port goes the helm — his left, larboard it is ; 
" check her," and a boy sings out to the engineer. I ex- 
pected a crash, and wished myself in the cars. But we at 

- last got down to Greenwich. You see nothing of shipping 
until you get some distance below the tower, or London 
Bridge, when you begin to see forests of masts filling the 

^ immense docks. A great bend in the river occurs opposite 
Greenwich, and to shorten the distance, it was proposed, 
some years since, to cut a canal across the point of land 
made by this curve. When it was finished, it was found 
that it so shoaled the water in the main channel as to pre- 
vent navigation by any thing but the lighter craft. It was 
necessary to close it, or Greenwich would be an inland 
town instead of a sea-port. The upper end of the canal 
was consequently closed, and the main body of it enlarged 
and converted into a magnificent dock, which is now filled 
with shipping. As many as one thousand sail may be seen, 

- at a favorable time, passing up or down the Thames, below 
Woolwich. 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 126 

A few minutes after passing Greenwich our little 
steamer landed us at Woolwich. Landing, and fortifying 
our stomachs with a mutton chop, as we intended taking 
the dock-yard by a coup de main, we marched up to the 
principal gate; and, as it happened, the superintendent 
was there with the sentry. Marching boldly up, we asked 
if we could have the privilege of looking at the curiosities 
in the yard. *' 0, yes, gentlemen, walk in," said the 
portly and good-humored Englishman. In we walked. 
" I suppose you are Englishmen ? " inquired the overseer. 
"No, sir," said I; "we are Americans!" Halt! there 
is an end to our visit. " Grentlemen," said the pale man, 
" I am exceedingly sorry, but the rules forbid the introduc- 
tion of a foreigner, without a pass from the ' lords of the 
Admiralty.' " We almost expected to hear the alarm gun 
fired, the bells rung, and the guard turn out ; two Ameri- 
can clergymen had got inside the Woolwich dock-yard. 
As Capt. Dogberry would say, " It is a rank case of bur- 
glary." Now the most mortifying thing of all was, that 
we, so thin as hardly to be seen in front, and hardly cast- 
ing a shadow, should be " taken, reputed, and held " for 
Englishmen ! I had been taken for an Irishman once be- 
fore, and was not surprised. Well, we marched out, and 
consoled ourselves, as the disappointed Reynard did, with 
the reflection that there was not much there to be seen. 

The reason of this prohibition is this : Some years ago, 
a ship on the stocks took fire and was burned. No doubt 
11* 



126 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

through the carelessness of the laborers. But a shorter 
way to come at it was to charge it upon some " wicked out- 
side barbarian," and an order was forthwith passed by the 
Board that no " foreigner shall be introduced but by an 
order from the Admiralty." Because some American, or 
Frenchman, or New Zealander, might slily slip a torch 
into some fine ship, and lo, a fire ! all through jealousy of 
England's naval power. Surely, it cannot be that they 
•fear we should carry of their models, slily drawn on our 
thumb nails ; for in naval architecture they are as far be- 
hind us as the Dutch are behind them. We would not use 
their old tubs for carriers, to say nothing of sailers. But 
be it as it may, we were obliged to depart sans le grand 
view. So, taking to our feet, we walked to Greenwich, 
about three miles, often looking behind us, for who could 
tell whether an arrest might not take place ! 

Greenwich Hospital makes a fine appearance as you sail 
down the river. An ancient palace stood on its present 
site, and many royal children have been born here. Ed- 
ward VI. died here.' Charles II. took down the old build- 
ing, and commenced the present edifice. Sir C. Wren 
designed it, but the gay monarch only lived to see one 
wing finished, and it was left to the second Greorge to finish 
it. But Charles had no such thought in his head, or 
benevolence in his heart, as to design a charitable institu- 
tion. He intended it for a romping place for his favorites, 
or rather as a harem ; but in 1694 William and Mary de- 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 127 

voted it to tbe reception of seamen, disabled by age or 
wounds, and the widows and children of those slain in 
battle. 

There are four fine buildings detached from each other, 
and called ivards, bearing the names of Charles, Anne, 
William, and Mary. It is an interesting sight to see those 
old weather-beaten and maimed heroes, in their old naval 
uniforms, and cocked hats, stumping about the grounds, or 
sitting in their really comfortable rooms. Each department 
has its name and the number of men accommodated there- 
in ; as, for instance, "The Princess Charlotte, one hun- 
dred and twenty-five men," &c. 

All is neat and clean. And I am sure the old sailors 
who have carried England's thunder round the world, 
ought to be thankful that they have foimd so fine a port at 
last. In one room the visitor sees the portraits of Eng- 
land's naval ofiicers of renown ; and in one of the courts 
is mounted an immense gun, taken from the Turks some- 
where, I do not recollect where. 

Back of the hospital lies the Parh, in which, on a little 
eminence, stands a small, circular building, which is the 
observatory. We went up to it to view the place where 
Flamstead, and Newton, and Herschell spent so much time, 
and to so good a purpose. As it was not reception day, 
and the savants were away, we only stepped inside and out 
again ! On the top of the building is erected a pole on 
which slides a huge black ball, which is raised just before 



128 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

twelve o'clock, and then, precisely at meridian, drops. 
Ship masters in all the docks regulate their chronometers 
by this. 

Longitude is reckoned from Greenwich. When a lad, 
and first taught that this mundane is round, and not flat 
as a pan-cake, though on the flat maps it was hard to under- 
stand this, I remember these mysterious words on the mar- 
gin of the map, "Longitude West from Greenwich;" 
well, my feet stand on the spot at last. 

The boat is coming, and we must hasten to the pier. 
Yours, as ever. 



LETTER XIII. 



London, Aug. 8, 1850. 
Friend S : 

This day was devoted to two enterprises. First, our 
host irxformed us that Mr. Melville, the celebrated preacher 
of this city, was to preach the golden lecture, at a certain 
church in our vicinity, and, of course, we must hear him. 
Now this lecture is styled golden, not because of its char- 
acter, but because some rich individual left a legacy to sus- 
tain a course of lectures on some point of Christian doc- 
trine, or practice, and the persons selected to deliver the 
lectures receive a guinea for each lecture. 

At the appointed hour we found the church, and entered, 
a /ema^e sexton kindly showing us to seats. A good con- 
gregation was gathered ; and, indeed, it is a much easier 
matter to gain a hearing on any subject in England, than 
with us ; people are not in so great a hurry. A young man 
read the prayers, while an odd looking genius sat in the 
chancel, whom I took to be Mr. Melville. But I had reck- 

129 



130 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

oned without my host. Wheu the last hymn had been 
sung, a fine, portly gentleman ascended the pulpit ; this 
was the popular man. He strongly resembles Dr. Dewey, 
of New York. His head is large ; his forehead not high, 
but broad ; his features regular and well proportioned, but 
not handsome. He, of course, wore the gown and bands. 
He laid his manuscript upon the desk, and read his text in 
a low but clear tone of voice — "If any man smite thee 
on the right cheek turn to him the left also." His object 
was to show that this doctrine of entire non-resistance, or 
passive reception of injuries, was not taught by Christ. 
He, the Master, sternly rebuked the person who smote him 
on the cheek. " If I have spoken evil, bear witness of 
the evil ; if well, why smitest thou me ? " And showed 
that such rebuke has a more healthy influence upon an 
offender than silent submission. He read his fine sermoij. 
without much earnestness and little action. The audience 
heard him calmly through, and then left. I have heard 
many preachers who better pleased me than Mr. Melville. 
He is too tame ; too much confined to his notes ; not suf- 
ficiently interested in the subject himself. Indeed, I dis- 
like reading, as a substitute for preaching. In these days 
of types, and presses, and paper mills, people have abun- 
dant matter for reading at home. At church they need to 
be waked up, a result which reading seldom produces. I 
have heard but two extemporaneous preachers in the me- 
tropolis ; one at City Road Chapel, and the other. Rev. 
Thomas Binney, " Weigh-house Chapel, London Bridge." 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 131 

This last is a powerful declaimer ; is popular and useful, 
and has a large congregation. I heard him Sabbath eve, 
but it was an expository lecture on Proverbs, and was not 
interesting. He was weary, and so was I. 

We must now off to the parks for the remainder of the 
day. We shall do well to jump into an omnibus, which 
will take us to Charing Cross for three-pence. This is one 
of the good things of this city, that you can ride in any 
direction, and all over the city, for three-pence. There is 
a fellow holding up his hand ; nod at him and the 'bus 
holds up. At Charing Cross we alight, and turning down 
Whitehall, towards the Parliament House, a few steps 
brings us in front of the celebrated " Horse Guards." 
Look, now, on your right, and you see a lofty gateway, on 
either side of which is an alcove, in which' sits a man in 
armor, on horse-back; these are the "Horse Gruards" of 
the Queen, and this is the entrance to St. James's Park, 
the smallest of the parks in this part of the city. Let us 
pause a moment, and gaze at this spectacle of armed men. 
The largest sized coal black horses are used, "fat and 
sleek " as Henry Clay's slaves; the men are the largest 
size, also, with brass helmets and plumes, with steel back 
and breast plates, long swords, and short guns. I met a 
squadron of these lazy fellows, come down to relieve guard, 
one morning. They are a formidable set of fellows ; and, 
in a charge, I should suppose, would penetrate a square by 
sheer momentum, so heavy are they. 

Passing this gate, we are in the parade ground ; and 



132 RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

♦ 

marching straight on, if we do not stop, we shall plunge 
into Prince Albert's frog pond, where he keeps his swans, 
ducks, and geese. Scores of sygnets, ducklings, and gos- 
lings, are swimming about, and scores of children are gaz- 
ing at them. 

Passing on now to the head of the park, you see before 
you Buckingham Palace, a plain stone building, with a 
board fence round it, twenty feet high. Some repairs must 
be going forward, or such an uncouth fence would not be 
raised. " No admission," says the sentry. After all 
done here, and the pretty sura of four million two hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars of the people's money has been 
expended here, it is not fit to live in. Her Majesty says 
the north wing, in which she and Albert harve private 
apartments, was built for an old bachelor, and, of course, 
is not large enough for a 7nan and his wife. And then, 
there is no room for the children ! and they have to be put 
into the attic designed for servants ; and then, the Idtchen, 
it is said, was a nuisance to the palace ! and, therefore, an 
honorable member, for the royal pair, modestly asked for the 
small sum of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars to 
put Buckingham Palace in decent shape ! And yet there 
is St^ James's Palace, and Kensington Palace, Brighton 
Pavilion, and Lambeth Palace, on the other side of the 
Thames, and nearly opposite the Parliament House, and 
Hampton Court, a place where I am sure I would be very 
content to live ! and Kew, in Surrey, and Windsor Castle, 
and how many other royal residences I cannot tell ! and 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 133 

yet, no place to live ! Do you wonder that the people 
murmur, and that Cobden, Bright, and Thompson, cry out 
for reform, and retrenchment ? Here is wealth enough in 
these royal roosts, sunk and lost, to feed all England's 
starving poor, and educate her illiterate children. Out 
upon such a system ! I am no fawning sycophant, and I 
cannot but feel this degradation of humanity. I speak of 
this boldly, but calmly, here, and I find a rational response 
in the hearts of the middle, or working and trading classes. 
This cannot continue long. 

On the right of St. James's Park, as you enter, is the 
palace of that name. Here the Queen holds her levees, 
and drawing rooms, why, I cannot tell, unless it has a 
better kitchen than Buckingham Palace. Hence the style 
of address, " the Court of St. James." On this site was 
originally built a hospital for lepers, before the conquest. 
That great villain, Henry YIII., seized the revenues, 
pulled down the house, and built the present edifice ; and 
as the hospital was dedicated to St. James, the palace took 
that name. 

Bloody Mary spent her last two years of earthly exist- 
ence here. Charles I. filled this palace with fine paint- 
ings and statuary, collected by an agent in Italy, t An 
Italian Cardinal wrote to Cardinal Mazarini, in England, 
"We shall not hesitate to rob Rome of her richest orna- 
ments, if, in exchange, we might be so happy as to have 
the King of England submit to the Apostolic See," These 
12 



134 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

gew-gaivs, us tlio stern old republicans would call them, 
were all sold and scattered during the Protectorate. 

Charles I. was imprisoned here for some time, you know, 
and went from this palace to the scaffold. His body lay 
here in state, for some days after his execution, and was 
visited by multitudes. Tradition says, Cromwell himself 
visited the body. His cloak drawn closely about him, and 
somewhat disguised, he walked round the corpse, exclaim- 
ing, '* dreadful necessity." Your guides will tell you 
those things, and you may note them down and believe as 
much as you please. George TV . was born here ; and 
when he was twelve days old such numbers flocked to see 
him that the expense in cake and candle was two hundred 
dollars per day ! You can worship God in the royal 
chapel here, by paying a shilling to the door-keeper ! We 
did not go up to Kensington Palace, as we are sick of this 
extravagance. One gets weary of seeing this waste of 
money, and this excess of poverty. I am often asked 
whether we have so many poor and street beggars. I an- 
swer, " the most of our poor, and all our beggars, are im- 
migrants." The legislation of this country has been, for 
ages, for the aristocracy — to make the rich richer, and the 
poor poorer. To this fact the people are awakening at last ; 
and extravagant expenditures, and costly court establish- 
ments, are doomed. So lot it be ! 

Beauty is not an attribute of the London parks. Green 
Park joins St. James, a triangular piece of ground, filled 



RAMBLES IN EUIiOPi:. 135 

with shcaj) racks ! The mall runs between these parks ; 
but that celebrated place, palWaaU, is in the rear of St. 
James' Palace. Piccadilly is a wide way, on the north of 
this park, about half its length, bordering on the park. 
Our Minister, Mr. Lawrence, resides at No. 138 in this 
street. It is a fine mansion, and was the former residence 
of some lord. Mr. L. pays 10,000 dollars per year rent, 
a thousand more than his salary ! But this is no one's 
business, as he is able to do it. I called upon him, and 
found myself going through rooms of great magnificence, 
and splendidly furnished. Mr. L. is much respected here, 
and well represents the greatest people on earth ! To 
see the greatness of your own country you must go out of 
it. If I had seen a fght in the House of Lords, I should, 
perhaps, have put a different estimate upon the English 
nation ; as it is, I think in most things we are ahead of 
them. 

Lord Byron formerly lived in Piccadilly, and it was 
here that he *' awoke one morning and found himself fa- 
mous." At the western terminus of the street, and near 
the entrance to Hyde Park, is a grand triumphal arch, on 
the top of which is an immense erpjestrian statue of Lord 
Wellington, the English idol. I do not believe that every 
Englishman Is obliged to doff his hat on pa.«sing the statue 
of this man ; at least, I did not see it done. 

Hyde Park contains four hundred acres, and looks like /^ 
a Vermont sheep pasture. Cows and sheep were feeding 
in the park, and were the property of the crown. Here is 



136 RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

another immense statue to Wellington, the inscription on 
which says that it was erected by the ladies. Here is the 
inscription: "To Arthur, Duke of Wellington, and his 
brave compatriots in arms, this statue of Achilles, cast from 
cannon taken in the battles of Salamanca, Yittoria, Tou- 
louse, and Waterloo, is inscribed by their GomitYj-women.^^ 
These women had better been doing something to feed and 
clothe the poor widows and orphans made by this great 
slayer of men. 

Sunday afternoons you may see a great turn out, I am 
told, of all the wealth and fashion of London, in their 
splendid carriages and liveries. It is said fifty thousand 
persons may be seen here at once, on fine Sabbaths. 

By a recent regulation the gates are closed at nine 
o'clock, I think it is, and all pedestrians must be out before 
that time, or sleep in the park. Punch comes out upon 
the regulation, and satirizes it. An unfortunate biped, 
who got almost to the gate ere it was closed, is doomed 
to lodge under the blue canopy. There is an umbrella 
spread, and a pair of long legs obtruding from under it. 

On the right of the entrance at Hyde Park corner is 
Apsley house, the residence of Wellington. Now, if you 
are a good pedestrian, and can stand the walk, you may 
keep on with me to Regent's Park, in the north extremity 
of the city. My travelling companion here gave out, and 
returned ; I kept on over this park, struck into the forest — 
of houses — again, and a walk of a mile brought me to 
the entrance of this park. It contains four hundred and 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 137 

sixty acres. Here is tlie garden of the Eoyal Botanic 
Society, and that of the Zoological Society. I spent some 
hours rambling about among this fine collection of beasts, 
birds, and reptiles. The finest animals I saw, of course, 
were American, and, I suppose, in this matter, no English- 
man would dispute the palm with us. The American Deer 
and Moose, and California Bears, attract much attention. 
The Hippopotamus, and his East India keeper, had just 
arrived, and the multitude crowded to see him, at the hour 
when his keeper brought him out. 

When I left the park I was four miles from my lodgings ; 
a 'bus, however, soon brought me down; and, weary 
enough, I sat down to note down the day's labor and 
incidents, and then to my pillow to dream of home. 

12* 



LETTER XIV. 



London, August 8, 1850. 

My Dear S : 

I SHALL give you but one additional letter from this 
city of wonders, as to-morrow we shall leave, Deo volente, 
for France. 

I have been feasting my eyes on wealth and magnifi- 
cence, and the beauties of art. But London has another 
side ; there are shadows to this picture, shadows of fearful 
darkness : in no part of the world do you find meeting 
such strange extremes. No nation is so rich ; in none 
can the use or abuse of wealth bring so much enjoyment, 
abated by so few evils ; a healthy climate, a secluded posi- 
tion, a powerful government, the wealthy citizen can eat 
and drink and travel to his heart's content. He is not 
scorched by heat, nor chilled by cold ; he has no fear that 
some day a wild faction will knock his house about his 
head, and bring him to the block, or that, during some 
temporary absence from his country, a fickle government 
138 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 139 

will confiscate his estate and expatriate his person. The 

wealthy Englishman eats and drinks and laughs and dies. 

But to do this, he must be trained without a heart. He 
must not allow himself to feel. He cannot say, 

" Teach me to feel another's woe." 

And now, while in no land wealth can produce so much 
pleasure, so, on the other hand, in no land is poverty so 
Utter. The cost of sustaining life is greater in this than 
in any other country. For this reason, many noblemen, 
whose expenditures have exceeded their income, find it 
** convenient " to reside abroad, until the labor and sweat 
of their tenants shall have replenished their purses. There- 
fore it is that a poor man gets but a very small sum for his 
labor, and very little of the substance which sustains life 
for his money. At a hotel where I put up, I often came 
in contact with a young man who was the boot-black of the 
establishment. I noticed that he did not lodge in the 
house. I entered into conversation with him. 

/. " How do you work here, by the year or piece ? " 

He. " By the year, sir." 

I. " What wages do you receive ? " 

He. " Ten pounds, sir." (Fifty dollars.) 

I. *' Have you a family ? " 

He. " Yes, sir, a wife and two children." 

I. ''Where do they live?" 

He. "I rent a room some little distance from this, sir." 

/. " Can you make them comfortable on that sum?" 



140 GAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

He. ''We get along the best way we can, sir. lam 
hoping to get means by-and-by to go the United States, 
where I think I can do better." 

Now look at this. Each gentleman boarder in that 
house was charged in his bill two pence, — four cents, — 
per day, for blacking his boots. Twenty-five boarders is a 
small number to set down as the average number. That 
would amount to three hundred and sixty-five dollars per 
year ! While the man who did all the work receives fifty 
dollars ! 

This is a favorable specimen of the condition of the labor- 
ing class here. 

By a city regulation, no street beggar is permitted to 
speak to passers by ; but this does not feed them, nor clothe 
them, nor diminish the number.^ There they are, thronging 
the thoroughfares, sitting on the steps of churches, meeting 
you at the door of your hotel. They look at you; and such 
a look ! It would seem as if all the suffering of a genera- 
tion was condensed in that one look of voiceless woe ! You 
can hardly resist it. Now, I have no doubt much of it is 
acting ; that many are impostors. There are common stock 
babies, passed from hand to hand, little, old, blue, shrivelled 
things, starved on purpose to make them more pitiable. 
But much of it is re«7; the marks are poverty's sign man- 
ual ; they are not counterfeits. In other lands, life is sus- 
tained at a rate much cheaper. The poor of Paris, or of 
the Italian cities ; the ChafFoniers, and Lazaroni, can live 
on a morsel of bread and a bit of maccaroni ; and then, de- 



EAMBLES/IN EUEOPE. 141 

I, 
cay and decrease of business lias reduced rents so tliat some 

sort of shelter can be procured for a small sum ; or sleep 
will come to the pillowless head, under the mild sky, and 
the dry atmosphere is a good substitute for a covering. 
But 'poverty in England is a refined and distilled priva- 
tion .y If you are poor here, Grod pity you, man will not ; 
you may go to the work-house ; you will there suffer more 
than you would to die in the streets. But the parish work- 
houses are full ; and then you must starve. One of the 
meanest things of which Englishmen are guilty, is empty- 
ing their poor-houses into the United States. Many cases 
of this kind have come to light to the eternal disgrace of 
the actors. One of these paupers was to have been sent 
back in the ship in which I crossed the ocean, but the car- 
riage did not reach the wharf until we were "^ well under 
way, and the pauper was left. 

As many as thirty thousand persons in this city live by 
street trading, called costermongers. A stranger is amused 
by these queer specimens of humanity, and the shifts and 
turns to which they resort to make a penny. You meet 
them every where — with baskets, and barrows and bags ; 
with donkeys and without; with such noises as make a 
Babel of the streets ; with fruit, and fish, and shrimps, and 
water-cresses, and pies, puddings and pine-apples; with 
things to eat, and things to wear, and things for show. 
" Chesnuts, all 'ot, a penny a score." " Grooseberries, a 
penny a pint." " Rad-e-shees," cries another. And this 



142 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

everlasting din is kept up from morning till night's earty 
shades. 

And these thirty thousand see the inside of no church, 
nor school ; their religious ideas are few, and their ideas of 
morality very degrading. A state of concubinage exists 
generally among them Grambling, drinking, and stealing, 
are common vices. When you are reminded that no effort 
is made to check these evils, you will say, this is shameful. 
Mr. Dickens, Mrs. Trollope, and other caricaturists, sneer 
at the various benevolent societies existing in our country ; 
the time spent in attending lectures, &c. ; and, especially, 
the interest the ladies take in these matters. I was told 
here, by an intelligent young Englishman, that^^hould I 
propose to lecture on intemperance, "the people would 
laugh at me." It is only suitable for the vulgar. Now 
would it not be well, if some information could be given 
these ignorant immortals by means of pobular lectures, or 
female benevolent institutions ? \ 

In our country you often'^see draymen, and hack drivers, 
and laboring men, while waiting for employment, engaged 
in reading the daily papers, or some book. You see 
nothing of the kind here. Nor do you see groups of 
children, with satchel and shining face, hastening to school, 
as with us. There are schools here, but fhe masses do not 
send their children ; they are left to grow up in ignorance 

r 

and vice. 

But the number of these street pedlars is greatly in- 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 143 

creased wlien the irregulars are taken into this account. 
There are one thousand s^eet musicians, and as many old 
clothes men ; altogether, the hest authority fixes the whole 
number of persons, men, women and children, at fifty thou- 
sand who try to get a living in the streets. And such a 
living ! it is only a slow death. 

And I cannot learn that any thing is being done for this 
mass of suffering ^nd pollution. Puppy tourists rail at 
Americans, and to every remark you make with reference 
to these abject ones, they call your attention to slavery ! 
Much as I detest that institution, and shamed as I arn often 
when the subject is broached, so far as comfort, and present 
enjoyment are concerned, it would be almost like a transition 
to Paradise to transfer these wretched creatures to Ameri- 
can slavery ! I do not think, and I judge from printed 
reports, that the same amount of\ human suffering is to be 
found in all Christendom besides, as is found in the large 
cities and manufacturing districts of this kingdom ; the 
reports of the Committee of the House of Commons are 
absolutely appalling ! And it is for dragging such suffer- 
ing, and the villainous cupidity which creates much of it, to 
light, that such men as Cobden, and Thompson and Bright 
are traduced and vilified by the " upper ten," and the 
parasites of aristocracy on our side of the water take and 
prolong the cry. Put by the side of this, the cost of the 
crown. 

"^e Queen's salary was fixed by the Reformed Par- 



144 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

liament, in 1837, at three hundred and eighty-five thou- 
sand pounds, nearly two million dollars. This is distributed 
among a number of titled persons, Lord Chamberlains, 
Grrooms in Waiting, Gentlemen Ushers, Sergeant-at-Arms, 
whose duties are to hold watch outside the King's tent, 
dressed in complete armor, and armed with a bow, arrows 
and sword, and the maces of office." 

This in the nineteenth century ! In the Lord Steward's 
department, the butter, bacon, eggs and cheese consumed, 
about equal Mr. Fillmore's salary. The butcher's bill is 
nearly fifty thousand dollars. The Lord Steward gets ten 
thousand dollars, and the Master of the Household, who 
does the so-called duties, gets about six thousand dollars. 
The kitchen takes nine thousand nine hundred and eighty- 
three pounds, about fifty thousand dollars ; the chief cook 
getting three thousand five hundred dollars salary. This 
department costs, annually, one hundred and twenty-eight 
thousand three hundred and eighty-six pounds, about six' 
hundred thousand dollars. The department of the Master 
of the Horse, who gets twelve thousand five hundred dol- 
lars a year, costs three hundred and thirty-five thousand 
dollars a year. On one occasion, recently, three hundred 
and fifty-five thousand dollars were voted for the Queen's 
stables, and the same session refused one hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars for national education. " God save the 
Queen." 

It will interest your readers to take a peep at the Smith- 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 145 

field Market, or races, as it is called, on a Friday, and see 
the gathering of donkey dealers, an animal used here by 
the poor street pedlars. 

From a recent publication, "■ London Labor and the 
London Poor," I send you an extract : — 

"■ Every thing necessary for the starting of a costermon- 
ger's barrow can be had in Smithfield on a Friday after- 
noon, from the barrow itself to the weights — from the 
donkey to the whip. The animals can be purchased from 
five shillings to three pounds. On a brisk market day, as 
many as two hundred donkeys have been sold. ' There is 
a space of about eighty feet in length, up and down which 
the animals are trotted. The barrows for sale are kept 
apart from the studs, but harness to any amount can be 
found every where, in all degrees of excellence, from the 
bright japanned cart saddle with its new red pads, to the old 
mouldy trace covered with buckle marks. Wheels of every 
size and color, and springs of every stage of rust, are 
hawked about on all sides. To the usual noise and shout- 
ing of a Saturday night's market is added the shrill squeak- 
ing of distant pigs, the lowing of the passing oxen, the 
bleating of sheep and the braying of donkeys. The paved 
road all down the race course is level and soft with the mud 
trodden down between the stones. The policemen on duty 
there, wear huge fishermen's boots, reaching to their thighs ; 
and the trousers' ends of the coster's corduroys are black 
and sodden with dirt. Every variety of odor fills the air ; 
you pass from the stable smell that hangs about the don- 
13 



146 EAMBLES IK EUROPE. 

keys, into an atmosphere of apples and fried fish, near the 
eating stalls, while a few paces further on you are nearly 
choked with the stench of goats. The crowd of black hats, 
thickly dotted with red and yellow plush caps, reels about ; 
and the ' hi-i-i ' of the donkey runners sounds on all 
sides. 

" Sometimes a curly headed bull, with a fierce red eye, 
on his way to or from the adjacent cattle market, comes 
bolting down the road, making all the visitors rush sud- 
denly to the railings, for fear — as a coster near me said — 
of * being taught the horn pipe.' 

' ' The donkeys standing for sale are ranged on both 
sides of the course, in long lines, their white velvety noses 
resting on the wooden rail they are tied to. 

'* As you walk in front of the long line of donkeys, the 
lads seize the animals by the nostrils and show their teeth, 
asking, * do you want a hass, sir ? ' And all warranting 
the ' critter to be five years old next huff-day.' Dealers 
are quarrelling among themselves. ' A hearty man could 
eat three sich donkeys as yourn at a meal,' cries one pro- 
prietor to another. 

" One fellow, standing behind his studs, shouts as he 
strikes, 'Here's the real Britannia metal.' While another 
asks, ' Who's for the pride of the market ? ' Here stands 
by its mother a little shaggy colt with a group of ragged 
boys fondling it, and lifting it from the ground in their 
arras. Now a tall fellow, dragging a donkey after him, 
runs by, crying as he charges in among the mob, ' HuUoa ! 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 147 

huUoa, H-Li,' his mate, with long coat tails %ing in the 
wind, hurrying after and roaring between his blows, 
' Keem up.' And then they crack up the animals in 
this style : ' It's all nonsense to call donkeys stupid ; them's 
stupid that calls 'em so ; they're sensible. Not long 
since I reached Guildford with my donkey cart and boy. 
Jack (the donkey) was slow and heavy in coming back, 
until we got in sight of the lights at Yauxhall gate, and 
then he trotted on like one o'clock ; he did, indeed ! just 
as if he smelt it was London, besides seeing it, and knew 
he was at home. He had a famous appetite in the country, 
and the fresh grass did him good. I gave a country lad 
two-pence to mind him in a green lane there. I wanted 
my own boy to do it, but he said, " I'll see you further, 
fust." A London boy hates being by himself in a lone 
country part. He's afraid of being burked ; he is, indeed. 
I feed my donkey well. I sometimes give him a carrot for 
a luxury; but carrots are dear, now.' " 

Happy the poor fellow here who can get a donkey and 
cart ; he has a prospect of living, as he can turn his hand 
to all sorts of business. The hundreds in our cities who 
are seen every day with basket and bag peddling some- 
thing, or picking up the bits of paper, rags, sticks and coal 
from the streets, are only transferred costermongers from this 
country. Seldom do you see a native with us thus em- 
ployed; it is too small business. How is this to end? An 
end it must have ; the population increases — the means 
of gaining a living do not. The invention and improve- 



148 KAMBLES IN EUROPJE. 

merit of macMnery is constantly diminishing the calls for 
manual labor, and the mechanic must take to the street ; 
and then they are ignorant of the business, and the regu- 
lar ones say, "Poor fellows, we pity them; they'll find 
it out by-and-by." *' It's awful," said one, "to see some 
poor women trying to pick up a living in the streets, by 
selling nuts or oranges. It's awful to see them, for they 
can't set about it right ; besides that, there are too many 
before they start ; they don't find a living ; its only 
another way of starving ^ 

These poor creatures imagine that the rich live on taxes; 
they have no idea of income, and, therefore, imagine the 
upper classes to be sustained by the lower ; hence jeal- 
ousies, and indignation against them. An evil like this 
must work itself out at last. So it was in Paris ; so, but 
God forbid, I fear it will be here. Mon ami, this is a 
dark letter, but you will please remember, that when 
walks among poverty are taken, on a dark, drizzly, Lon- 
don day, by a bilious man, the more cheerful forms of 
poetry are not originated. Once more only shall I write 
you from this Babel, and then off to a better climate. 
Yours, &e. 



LETTER XV. 



London, August 9, 1850. 
Friend S : 

To-morrow morning I purpose to leave for Paris. To- 
day has been a singularly fortunate day in the way of sight 
seeing. I went out this morning, not knowing whither I 
was going, and I have returned to-night, hardly knowing 
where I have been. But I will jot down some things as 
they occurred, and as I saw them, for the amusement of 
your readers. I had about completed the tour of London, 
though this was much like a young miss from a fashionable 
boarding school, who has Jimshed her education ; I had, at 
least, visited the most important points, when it struck me 
I would take a ramble without much aim or plan. This 
morning, therefore, having strengthened the outer man with 
as substantial a breakfast as a boarding-house here furnishes, 
Yiz. : bacon fried, hot rolls and coffee, I sallied out on 
adventures. It is often true, that chance turns up what 
the most refined calculation fails of producing. 
13* 149 



150 EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

If you wisli to see the dark as well as the light of Lon- 
don, you must plunge into the middle of things, down into 
the narrow alleys, gloomy lanes, and filthy avenues of 
the city, and your picture will be sufficiently shaded. 
" Thread-needle," " Bishop's Grate," where " Baring & 
Brothers " have their great money shop, " St. Mary's 
Axe," " Newgate," noted for its old prison, into which we 
went, but voluntarily, " Hounds-ditch," and such like 
walks, are sufficiently gloomy. Put your head occasionally 
into a heer shop, and you will need no volatile salts ! I 
had wandered about alone until I had become sufficiently 
nervous, when I conceived the idea of getting out into the 
suburbs, where I could see the country, and leave the city 
behind me. 

Meeting a policeman, I said to him, " Grood man, I 
have been nearly all over this city, and now I want to go 
out upon the outside, and see it from without ; tell me in 
what direction to go." " Well," said he, "I would go to 
the Exchange and get into a 'bus, and go to Islington ; 
you have a fine ride, and a fine view." Ah, *' Islington ! " 
that name seemed to half awaken some sleeping vision of the 
** auld lang syne," but what it was I oould not well divine. 
But, aliens, I was off, with my usual five mile pace, for the 
'bus. Mounting upon the top, off we went up the " City 
Koad," passed " Bunhill-fields, " and " City Road Chapel," 
and soon reached " High street," running off to the right. 
Here a gentleman got up beside me, who soon entered into 
conversation with me, and pointed out the places of Bote 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 151 

as we rattled on. " There," said he, "is one of the worst 
places in London," pointing to an old inn by the wayside. 
*' Multitudes of young men come up there on the Sabbath, 
to gamble and drink." And this was not the only place ; 
all along the way these houses were seen. 

"There is one place in this vicinity," said he, "you 
should see ; and that is the old house which was one of 
Queen Elizabeth's retreats, and was occupied by Sir Wal- 
ter Raleigh and Oliver Groldsmith." Calling the Jehu to 
hold up, I dismounted, and taking the gentleman's direc- 
tion, I started. Fifteen minutes' walk brought me to the 
antique building. It was of brick, of no particular order 
of architecture, small and dingy. A square tower rose at 
one end, with numerous windows, arranged with no order 
at all, but apparently placed just as it occurred to the 
masons to insert them. A huge door was in front, and, 
marching up, I seized the immense knocker, and sent some 
echoes through the hall, such as, perhaps, had been awak- 
ened by a knight of the olden time, with his halberd or 
mace. A stout woman came and unbolted the door, and, 
as it swung open, in I walked. She planted herself against 
the inner door, and awaited my business. " Madam," 
said I, " I wish to visit the tower, to gratify my curiosity." 
" You cannot be permitted to do so, sir." " But, madam, 
I have cornea long way on purpose, and must see it." 
" We admit no visitors now," said she ; " master has occu- 
pied the house for fifteen years, and he used to be much 
annoyed by visitors, and so he refuses all." The lesson 



152 RAMRT.F.S TN EUROPE. 

was ended. I could go no farther. But I had got inside 
of the old keep. Taking my pencil, I sat down on the 

fi> opposite side of the street, and made a rough sketch of the 
old curiosity, and departed. I learn the name of this 
house is " Cannonbury House." It was a royal suburban 
retreat in the bygone ages. It was then in the country ; 
now, the growing city has trenched upon its solitude ; and 

/if the jovial spirits which have caroused within its old walls, 
BO far from the *' busy haunts of men " as to disturb none 
by their orgies, could wake and return now, they would 
find, if not such a prodigy as 

"Birnam wood come to Dunsinane," 

yet London city had come to Islington. You find it ex- 
tended a long way into the country ; and it is not until 
you have passed through miles of houses, that at last yoU 
gee the green fields and beautiful hedge row, so unlike our 
wood fences and stone walls. 

In this old house, it is said, Raleigh was smoking his 
pipe so quietly, when his servant, entering the room, 
dashed a pitcher of water over him, supposing him to be on 
fire. And here Goldsmith wrote his " Yicar of Wake- 
field," a work which will maintain its popularity when the 
house in which it was written is gone and forgotten. I see 
him now, that clumsy loojsing man, with bulbing forehead, 
and large pug nose, and thick lips, sitting in his chair, with 
pen in hand, watching Johnson, whom he has sent for to 
help him out of his trouble, and who is sitting near intently 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 163 

engaged in reading a manuscript. His landlady stands 
with her hand on the door-latch, pert, earnest, sustained by 
a sense of justice, waiting to see what will be the decision 
of the stately man in black. He is so absorbed in the 
work, the " Yicar of Wakefield," as to forget to take off 
his huge three cornered hat. He decides favorably ; ad- 
vances the money, saves Groldsmith from going to prison, 
and gives the world the benefit of the book ! Genius in a 
garret ! It would be an interesting task to go over Lon- 
don and search out all the places where genius has toiled 
in penury, and sent out from its dark retreat light for the 
ages to come. G-enius and poverty seem to have been twin 
sisters ; and perhaps it was wisely ordered, for few men 
labor but from stern necessity ; few write for the pleasure 
of it. 

After viewing Cannonbury Tower, I started to find 
Smithfield, for I would rather see this sanctified spot than 
be presented to the Queen. I started off with the impres- 
sion that this noted place was out of the city, forgetting 
that I myself was a long way out of the city, and that 
Smithfield might be nearer my lodgings, and yet have been 
far enough from the city to prevent the smell of roasted 
human flesh from offending the Christian olfactories of my 
lord Bonner, and her most Christian Majesty, Mary! And 
I walked on and on, and every half mile would ask of a 
policeman for Smithfield. Still it was on ; and after I 
had walked ybwr miles, I found it within rifle range of my 
lodgings. It was sunset ere I reached it. Evening 



154 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

shadows were creeping over it ; the multitude were gone ; 
not an animal was seen in the pens — all had departed ; 
and I leaned against the rails and gave the reins to fancy. 
You cannot have the benefit of that excursion, mon ami ; 
it is among the things which were, but cannot be lost. 
London masses were again pouring into the area — proces- 
sions were marching onward, headed by robed priests — the 
great bell of St. Paul's sent its solemn reverberations over 
the city ; there were stakes, and chains, and fagots, and . 
fire. Rogers, and Philpot, and Cranmer, and Latimer, 
and E-idley, and scores of other faithful witnesses, are in the 
flames. " I will pay my vow in thee, 0, Smithfield," 
cries one. " Burn, false hand — this is the hand that of- 
fended," says another. " Courage, brother," cries another, 
" we shall, by the grace of Grod, kindle such a light 
this day in England, as shall never be put out," as 
the flaming fagot falls at his feet. Their dust is here, 
their record is on high. I turned away, and saw before 
me, on the south side of Smithfield, the "Hospital of St. 
Bartholomew." Over the main gate is a fine statue of 
Henry VIII. — to have seen the prince of darkness, in 
the gathering gloom, would not have excited me much 
more than that image. I wonder the people of England 
do not knock all the statues of such villains down. 

The following inscription I copied into my note book 
from a stone over the gate, literatim — "St. Bartholomew 
Hospital, founded by Ray here jj02. Refounded by 
Henry VIII., 1546. This front was rebuilt 1702, in. 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 155 

the first year of Queen Anne. Sir Wm. Prichard, Knt. 
All. Pres. J. NicM, Trea." 

To-morrow I bid adieu to London for la helle France, 
from some part of which you will hear from me, Deo 
volente. 

Yours, as ever. 



LETTER XVI. 



Amiens, August, 1850. 

Fkiend S : 

We reached this old and interesting city last night about 
midnight. Yesterday morning, at nine o'clock, we left the 
great city of London, en route for the gay city of Paris, 
via Folkstone. There are various routes to the Continent, 
all good, and, in the estimation of the various agents, each 
having some advantage over all others. It is an important 
thing, to all travellers, to learn to say deliberately, what 
David said in haste, "all men are liars." You cannot 
rely upon the word of agents, or cabmen, and often, not 
even upon hotel-keepers. It is a fact, that these last play 
into each other's hands, and " beg leave to recommend to 
you my friend. Monsieur Friccasee, or Mynheer Yon Sour 
Crout," hotel-keepers in Paris, or Amsterdam ; and likely 
as not, when you reach the place, you would not stay an 
hour in the hotel. The two great routes from London are, 
by Dover to Ostend, and Folkstone to Boulogne. If you 
156 



KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 157 

are going up the Ehine, and through Switzerland to France, 
you will take the first ; if to Paris first, the last. As our 
purpose is to do our visiting mainly before the great Con- 
vention in Frankfort, we choose to go first to Paris. Tak- 
ing the cars at nine, we reached Folkstone at one, P. M., 
without accident, or incident, save an encounter with a cler- 
gyman of the Establishment, who, ascertaining our original 
whereabouts, at once commenced on the great topic, 
slavery ! Now, you know, your correspondent is not slow 
on that subject, and is no great admirer of the peculiar 
institution ; yet when attacked here by persons who know 
nothing of our government, but suppose the people of 
Boston can just as easily put an end to the evil as the 
House of Lords might put an end to East India oppression, 
he is very apt to take up the cudgels. So in this case ; 
the worthy dignitary launched out into the subject with 
great volubility ; laid on his blows thick, fast, and hard, 
and I was fain to fend off, at first ; but soon, as his breath 
came thick and hard, I turned assailant, and took him a tilt 
over the East Indies, China, and the Cotton Factories, 
until he became so excited as to be, not red, but purple, a 
color which beer readily takes when dashed with an acid. 
It is a fact that an American cannot travel here with any 
respect if he is known to be a slaveholder, or even to favor 
slavery. I was amused to see how mum were two or three 
& at our boarding-house in London, who were slaveholders. 
One of the Americans whispered the fact to me, but it was 
kept secret. 

14 



158 KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

We rolled down upon the wliarf, and there lay a little 
black steamer, which was to carry us to Boulogne. 
We hurry on board, the bell rings, and we are off across 
the English Channel. It was a pleasant day, and but little 
wind, not enough to raise much sea, so that we had a fine 
run over. Soon after we started the clerk came round to 
collect the tickets. We had taken through tickets ; fare 
nine dollars to Paris, in the second class ; in the first, a 
third more. (If I were to travel the route over again, I 
would take the second class cars. You are among respect- 
able and sociable people. You feel at home. I remem- 
bered what some traveller had written, " no American, 
unless he is green, will travel in the first class cars.") 
We had an amusing instance of bold and barefaced begging 
in the case of the clerk who collected the tickets. " A 
shilling, if you please, sir," said the clerk. " I do not 
please, sir." You must expect this every where. How 
would an American steamboat clerk, or railroad conductor, 
appear in this livery? "Ten cents, if you please, sir." 
He would be likely to get blessings, crosswise, instead. 

At four, P. M., we ran into the harbor of Boulogne, by 
the magnificent breakwater constructed at its mouth. As 
you enter the harbor, you see, on the heights above the 
town, a tall tower, surmounted by a statue. It is Napo- 
leon, the idol of France. Your readers will remember that 
in this harbor the Emperor had collected his fleet for his 
descent upon England, and he had this observatory 
erected that from its summit he might watch their pro- 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 159 

gress, as they should be wafted across the channel. But 
the flotilla never sailed ; and now, as if in mockery of 
human ambition, an immense statue of the old hero sur- 
mounts it, sadly looking over to England's coveted spot of 
land. I could never believe that he seriously purposed an 
invasion of England ; but he gave them a terrible fright. 

The moment our boat touched the pier, a score, or more, 
of bare-headed and short-kilted women rushed on board. 
What a chattering. Sure, we are now among strangers ! 
Our baggage was seized by these porteresses ; trunks, bags, 
and band-boxes ; and carried off to the Custom House. 
You had better say nothing ; you can only march on m. 
silence. The privilege of carrying baggage is secured to 
these women, who are widows of fishermen lost in pur- 
suing their calling. You see them, after the baggage is 
examined, with a load for a mule, marching off to the 
" Chemin-du fer " station, a long mile off. The Custom 
House officers charge a small sum to each passenger, which 
goes to the women. 

All hands now march up to the Custom House. The 
officials are overhauling the trunks — silk dresses, nice 
dickeys, coats, hats, and unmentionables, are tumbled out, 
and left for the scolding owners to repack at their leisure . 
I had taken the precaution to send home my trunk, and 
had only a bag ; and the official put in his hand, but not 
feeling any cigars or '' tobac," passed it along. Then you 
must pass through another room, and present your passport. 
You are told you will find it in Paris ! These passports 



160 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

are a great bore. You are charged one dollar and a half 
for one in Boston, for instance, though the government 
makes no charge for them ; this goes to the lawyer. In 
London you must call on the American minister, and get 
him to countersign it ; then you must go to the French Le- 
gation, 47 King William street, near London Bridge, and 
for simply writing his name thereon he charges you a dollar 
and eight cents; and now, here, a garcon brings us a tem- 
porary passport, for which a half crown is charged, and, of 
course, we shall have to pay for the original again in Paris ! 
But, poor wretches, so they live ; these impoverished pau- 
per officials of the governments of the old world live by 
these means, and the people plunder travellers. You must 
go over the ground the second time ere you can travel eco- 
nomically. We spent three hours in walking about this 
dirty and irregular city, seeing nothing interesting, save a 
religious procession ; as it was the first we had seen, its 
novelty amused us. At eight o'clock we went to the sta- 
tion, and greatly pleased were we to find the cars so large, 
loomy, and with cushioned seats, so far before the English. 
When all was ready, the conductor put a little alpine 
horn to his lips and blew a blast, such as used to rally the 
Switzers to battle, and off we went. We found a large, 
fat, and sociable young clergyman on board, who was going 
to Paris, and gave us good help in the way of interpreting. 
At one o'clock in the morning we were whirled into this 
old city of Amiens ; and as none of us had more baggage 
than we could conveniently carry, we walked off, directed 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 161 

by a hotel runner, and soon passed into the court of the 
"Hotel de France," and there we were at once shown to 
our rooms. Sleep soon came to us, weary with a night's 
travel. Arising in the morning, I found my companions 
were not yet up. And now, I must try my hand at 
French ; hunger urged me. The landlord was polite, and 
wished to know what I would have for breakfast. " Deux 
mouton cotelettes, et cafe," would do for me, but my com- 
panion would choose " du lait chaud, et pain." And here 
let me say to you and your readers, I have never drank 
coffee until ''this present." Coffee here is not made as 
with us, by boiling until you have a black and bitter por- 
ridge, which will not settle. Your coffee is filtered, and 
then your milk comes upon the table hot, and you have 
hot coffee. 

Our object in stopping here was to visit the cathedral, 
said to be one of the finest in Europe. The city itself has 
no special interest. It lies in a vast plain, and the streets 
are tolerably regular ; but the buildings have little beauty. 

This city is noted for two things — the ** Peace of 
Amiens," between Napoleon and the English, and being 
the birth place of " Peter the hermit," who got up the 
first crusade. It is the Capital of the Province of Picardy, 
and is four times larger than Calais, numbering forty- eight 
thousand inhabitants. It is about seventy-five miles from 
Paris, and is a noted place for the manufacture of velvet 
and carpets. 

W e soon stood before the cathedral. This splendid pile, 
14* 



162 EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

erected by the regent Bedford, is, in size, architectural 
grandeur, and beauty, before any we have yet seen. You 
are awe-struck when you stand in the aisle of Westminster 
Abbey and look up to the roof, one hundred feet ; but this 
is one hundred and forty feet. The interior is richly orna- 
mented, and a beautiful organ hangs up on the wall, with 
no apparent support. You can pass out upon the leads 
around the towers, which are not yet finished, and then 
ascend the spire, two hundred and fifty feet, and have a 
fine view of the city and the surrounding country.* We 
passed into one of the towers, where is a circular flat stone, 
about three feet across, on a pedestal, like a centre table. 
On this stone Henry lY. was once seated, and through the 
loop-hole of this retreat watched the progress of a battle 
between his army and the Spaniards. And the Duchess 
de Berri, when she entered France to excite a revolution in 
favor of her son, took her breakfast upon this stone. She 
probably here secreted herself. 

The carving in oak, in the interior of this building, ex- 
ceeds any thing I ever saw, or shall see, if I go to Rome. 
Scripture pieces are here given with impressive fidelity. 

* In the steeple of this cathedral is seen a great curiosity, in the 
shape of frame work. I doubt if even Yankee ingenuity can 
transcend this. It is a combination of wood work, by which the 
whole tower and steeple are sustained by one stick of oak timber ! 
The stick is about a foot square, but the weight comes upon it 
lengthwise, of course. It would sustain the whole cathedral if it 
could be suspended upon it. The ingenuity and curiosity lie in 
the arrangement by which so much is hung upon one stick. It is 
worthy a visit by some of our Suspension Bridge builders. 



RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 163 

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the patriarchs, with all the 
events which marked their lives, are here speaking to you. 
The first missionary to this city, his persecutions, his suf- 
ferings, his martyrdom, are all here, cut in oak. The 
great archway of the front entrance is a mass of statuary, 
of the finest character. We stood in the street and gazed 
upon it with wonder. Let none of your readers ever pass 
Amiens without stopping to see this fine building. What 
events are connected with this old building ! Could those 
diabolical confessionals, ranged round the walls, speak, what 
tales could they tell ! what horrors have been disclosed 
through these little lattices, worn by the lips of trembling 
devotees. You can almost hear the voice of that fanatic, 
Peter, in 1090, rolling through these arches, and rousing 
the wild passions of the multitude to frenzy against the 
infidel possessors of the holy sepulchre. You can see the 
long lines of soldiers, filing off in the plain yonder, bound 
to the holy land, to return no more. Would it be possible 
to get up another such farce ? could you make these people 
understand the facts in the case ? I doubt, judging from 
the appearance of the people, I doubt if one in ten could 
tell who Jesus Christ was — where he was born — how and 
why he died. 

Hundreds are now in the cathedral. You see them 
kneel, the beads slip through their fingers on the string, 
the lips move, they rise up and pass out, dip their fingers 
in the holy water, cross themselves, and are gone ! What 
have they gained ? what have they learned ? Nothing. 



164 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

God pity them — man does not. We meet here, now, for 
the first time, the priests. Two came on with ns in the 
cars. A large shovel hat covers the head ; a long black 
surtout falling to the ankles, with a belt around the waist, 
closed at the chin, covers the body. They have a dogged 
and disheartened look, as though something weighed upon 
their spirits. Each one carries a prayer book in his hand. 
Alas, "blind leaders of the blind;" the people die for 
lack of knowledge, and the priests amuse them with lec- 
tures on dead men's bones, and the fabulous histories of 
departed saints. 

" 0, long expected day, begin — 
Dawn on this land of death and sin." 

We start at ten o'clock for Paris. • 

Yours, as ever. 



LETTER XVII. 



Paris, Aucf., 1850. 

Friend S : 

Take this little scrap from Moliere, from whose tomb I 
have plucked a leaf to bring to you. 

" Mascarille. Ehbien! Mesdames, que dites-vous de 
Paris ? 

" Madelon. Helas ! Qu'en pourrions — nous dire ? 
II faudroit etre I'antipode de la raison, pour nepas confes- 
sor que Paris est le grand bureau des merveilles, le centre 
du bon gout, du bel-esprit et de la galanterie." And so 
it strikes a stranger at once. But our judgment is some- 
what influenced by history. Paris that was, is not the 
Paris that is. There is not the wealth — not the gayety — 
not the dissipation — not the business, which were found 
under the ''old regime." Though infinitely more than 
we are accustomed to see ; yet Paris is dull, it is said. 
When royalty fell, nobility fled. But I am getting on too 
fast. 

Our ride to this city, which we reached at three o'clock, 

165 



166 EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

P. M., on Saturday, tlie third of August, (I am particular, 
you see,) was not enchanting. We dashed on through a 
fiat and ahnost lifeless tract of country, at rail road speed. 
The peasants were just cutting their grain, and we were 
astonished to see so many women toiling in the fields. 
Three women to one man. In short clothes, with huge 
straw hats on their heads, the poor creatures were bending 
to their tasks, reaping and binding sheaves. Where were 
the men ? Then it was a mystery to us, but now ex- 
plained. They were where the male population of Europe 
have been for many centuries — under a musket ! and the 
women do the drudgery. What a fearful account have 
some of these potentials to give. 

At three, P. M., we reached the railway station, and ran 
the gauntlet again. You cannot alight here and go about 
your business, for the good reason that your business may 
not be such as is transacted here. You must pass through 
that narrow alley into a room locked, and from which egress 
is made by one door, and you must be there marked and 
spotted, and your sham passport must be examined. Who 
can tell but you may be a spy, eh bien ? We got through 
at last, and an omnibus took us to the "Hotel Bedford." 
In went the liuge vehicle through the front door of the 
house, into the court. Only think of a Cambridge omni- 
bus driving into the front door of the Revere or Tremont. 
The construction of these hotels strikes a stranger quaintly. 
You drive into a courts through the building, and find 
yourself in a paved square, with the building rising five and 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE, 167 

six stories all around you. Huge gates close on the street, 
and you are in your castle. 

These "court-yards " carry you back to old times — when 
the lordly cavalcade came thundering into the court, and 
the horses of the " gay cavaliers" were brought out into the 
"yard." We children then could not understand this. But 
when you come to see the stable and kitchen in the same 
yard, it serves as a clue to certain mysteries. 

On the right and left of the passage-way doors open, 
one to the common eating room, and the other to the room 
of the " table dliote.^^ Your rooms are selected and you 
stow yourself away. In our case there was but little 
choice, as the hotel was well filled. My rooms were in the 
fourth story — a good sized room, with a narrow bed, cur- 
tained, of course, (I have not seen one without,) a toilette 
room adjoining, and a clothes-press ; charge, two francs per 
day. A wax candle is set upon my table, marked sixty- 
six, the No. of my room ; the price of this is one franc. 
A cake of soap is laid upon your wash-stand, one-half franc 
more. When you leave be sure to put it in your bag or 
trunk ; you have paid for it. When your candle is about 
half burned out, the chambermaid will take it away, if you 
do not forbid, and bring a new one, and in your bill you 
see, " item, un bougie, un franc." You eat when, and 
where, and what you please. There is no public table in 
the morning, and each sits down by himself and sips his 
Parisian coffee, and eats what he calls for. With a 
Frenchman, breakfast is of no moment, but an English- 



168 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

man, or an American, craves a hearty meal in the morning. 
If you want meat of any kind you can have it, from a 
frog^s leg to a haunch of venison. If you call for a beef 
steak, be sure you say *' au naturel," or " a la Anglais," 
for, if you do not, woe unto you ! it will come in swim- 
ming in sweet oil, and other et ceteras, and you must be 
hungry to eat it. If you call for " cafe et petit pain," 
you will pay for your breakfast, one franc, generally ; if 
you call for another " roZ^," you pay extra for it. You can 
dine at the " table d'hote," at five o'clock, and pay from 
four to six francs, or step into some good "restaurant," 
and get a good dinner for two francs. I have tried the 
public table, and eschew it. Think of sitting there until 
twelve courses have been discussed ! it makes me nervous 
to think of it. At these tables you do not call for what 
you want, but have only the veto power ; you may refuse, 
and run your chance of finding the next dish more to your 
liking. Your landlord expects you will breakfast with him, 
but you are at liberty to dine and sup where you please. 
It is understood that you are sight seeing, and cannot be at 
home at the hour. You can remain out as late as you 
please, and on your return there hangs your key, and your 
numbered candle sits by ; depart, no one asks you ques- 
tions, or objects to your entrance. It is a free way of liv- 
ing, which, to many persons, is extremely agreeable. 

I have thus given you a running view of a French hotel, 
and your readers will see that it is wholly unlike the sys- 
tem on our side of the water. The next day was the Sab- 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 169 

bath, and, of course, we should see Paris on the Sabbath. 
In the morning, at eight, we went to the magnificent 
church of the Madeleine — one of the most gorgeous and 
highly ornamented churches we have yet seen, built in 
the form of a parallelogram, after the model of the Parthe- 
non, with a row of grand fluted marble columns all around 
it, and a double row on the front end. I cannot describe 
the interior ; it looks as if it had been dipped in Califor- 
nia ! Over the great altar is a splendid painting — the 
Crowning of Napoleon. The Pope presents the crown, 
which the great captain takes, and is in the act of placing 
upon his own head ; this is significant of the character of 
the man. 

High Mass was being celebrated in this favorite church, 
and we took our seats among the mass, for, unlike cathe- 
drals m general, this was well supplied with old-fashioned 
chairs, with a smaller one to kneel upon. A very large 
congregation was assembled, and they seemed devout and 
sincere ; but I could not believe that the priests, who were 
going through with that mummery, were honest. No man,^ 
in his right mind, and with an understanding at all in- 
formed, could believe the Divine Being to be pleased by 
such trash, much less, that the people can be benefited by 
it. It made me indignant to see the tonsured and gilded 
priests put the wafer upon the tongue of a communicant, 
and withhold the wine, in the teeth of the plainest Scrip- 
ture. O, for the privilege of standing up in that gilt pul- 
pit, and pouring simple truth into the ears of that hungry 
15 



170 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

mass of immortals ! But could I have done it, and uttered 
the sentiments burning in my heart, there would have been 
a stir ! 

We saw Paris on the Sabbath ; but all the difference per- 
ceptible was in the great gayety of the scene. Shops open, 
mechanics at work, railways in operation, &c., &c., and 
the multitudes on the Champs d' Ely sees riding, prome- 
nading, &c., made up a scene of gayety we had never before 
witnessed. At ten we started to find the Wesleyan 
Chapel. Mr. Cook, the Missionary in that city, had given 
us the street and number, so that we soon found 27 Rue 
Royale, and saw a sign on the door, "Wesleyan Chapel," 
and entering, found a congregation of about fifty. Step- 
ping into the vestry to speak to the Assistant Missionary, 
Rev. Mr. Field, lo, there stood Dr. M'Clintock, just ready 
to enter the pulpit ! Great was our rejoicing thus to meet 
in a land of strangers. The prayers being read, the Doc- 
tor gave us a fine sermon, after which the sacrament was 
administered to a few, and we left. The Wesleyans have 
two preaching places in Paris. Rev. Mr. Cook preaches 
in French, and the Assistant in English ; but the Parisians 
cannot be induced, in any considerable numbers, to hear 
the gospel in their own language. Mr. Cook, who, by 
the way, is the Paris correspondent of the Christian Ad- 
vocate and Journal, is a most excellent man ; but he is a 
foreigner, and what is worse, an Englishman. The French, 
you are aware, still regard the English with feelings of bit- 
terness ; they cannot forget Waterloo and St. Helena. 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 171 

When you announce yourself as an American, you will see 
a smile of pleasure flit over tlie features, and you will meet 
with the kindest attention. If France is ever evangelized, 
Americans must be the agents in the great work. I really 
hope our church will give this matter early and earnest at- 
tention. How many young men of our church might he 
found who would leave home for a field of labor like this. 
Could one be found who could speak elegant French, for 
the polite and fastidious Parisians will hear no other, to 
take his stand on Sabbath evening in the Champs (T Ely- 
sees, and gathering a host about him, as he would, pour 
into their ears the truths of the gospel, as a Massillon or 
Bourdeloue did, he would accomplish wonders. I am wax- 
ing enthusiastic ; but I have fallen in love with the French, 
and my heart yearns over them. God hasten the day of 
their redemption. They have sinned fearfully, and terribly 
have they suffered ; all the soil has been soaked with the 
blood of the saints. When I stood in the balcony of the 
Palace of the Louvre, from which the fanatic Charles fired 
his carbine at his own shrieking and flying subjects, urged 
on by the Jezebel Queen mother, all the horrors of St. 
Bartholomew seemed gathering about me, and terrors took 
hold upon me ; and then, when looking upon the mutilated 
marble columns, the fluting torn off by cannon shot, and 
the walls scarred by musket balls, and remembered that in 
the yard at my feet 2000 men perished by the fire of the 
Swiss Gruards of Charles the Xth, in 1830, until the 
wretched Swiss were thrown over, and transfixed by the 



172 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

bayonets of the infuriated mob below, I could but remem- 
ber tbe Scripture, " Surely there is a God that judgeth in 
the earth." What seas of blood have flowed in this 
wicked city, what cries yet go up to God ! and the " souls 
under the altar" yet cry, "how long, Lord, holy and 
true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them 
that dwell on the earth ? " Alas ! poor people I ignorant, 
depraved, blind, led by blind men. What a fearful 
account must the priests give at last, who have held the key 
of knowledge, and closed the door of the temple of truth 
against the multitude who once would have entered, but, 
deceived, mocked and robbed, have now, in disgust, 
turned their backs upon both the priests and the gospel. 

We commenced, Monday morning, our perambulations 
about this city. It is hardly possible to institute a faithful 
comparison between London and Paris. London is larger, 
Paris more open and airy ; London has more business, and 
Paris less filth ; London is sooty and sad in its appearance, 
Paris is bright and cheerful ; bilious temperaments are not 
found here ; smiles are about you, and you must be cheerful 
in spite of yourself. The waiters at your hotel are lightsome 
and sprightly, and have none of that gloomy and slave-like 
melancholy so constantly seen in English hotels. I am 
pleased with the French ; and if I were not an American, 
I would be a Frenchman. 

I no longer wonder that so many English and Amer- 
icans congregate here ; I am told that there are three 
thousand Americans now in Paris. A large meeting was 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 173 

held a few days since, on tlie occasion of the death of our 
President. 

About all the hotels in Paris there are certain officious 
personages called guides, whose business it is to show 
strangers about the city. They speak English tolerably 
well, and some of them have a *' right smart sprinkling of 
American." They can guess shrewdly, and can sell 
'* wooden nutmegs and horn flints," and if you engage one, 
and do not find yourself sold before a week, I miss my 
guess. Your landlord will tell you that they are necessary 
to an expeditious exploration of the city ; but were I to 
commence again, I would dispense with them. 

But we took one, — a good-natured, communicative, 
active man, of about fifty, who said he had served under 
Napoleon, when a mere lad. You pay your guide five 
francs per diem, and his omnibus fare and dinner. If 
there is a company together it is low enough ; but he man- 
ages to extort a franc from you at every place you visit. 
No charge is made here, as in England, for admission to 
places of interest; but your guide tells you, "you may 
give this man (who has charge) a franc ; " and when he 
comes round again it will be shared between them. He 
is useful, however, unless you speak French well, or have a 
good guide-book. You have more leisure where you are 
your own chaperon ; you can linger and meditate as long as 
you please, and that unpoetic *' aliens, done," is not 
ringing in your ears. 
15* 



174 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

Paris is far in advance of London in her public prome- 
nades. The formal and everlasting square disappears, and 
yon find yourself suddenly in the country, in five minutes 
after leaving your hotel. You have the shade and seclusion 
of the forest in the heart of the city ; cool fountains soothe 
your spirit by their soft murmurs, and cool breezes, laden 
with the perfumes of beds of flowers, fan your brow. 

The " Garden of the Tuileries," the " Boulevards," the 
Champs d'Elysees, (this combination of letters gives one 
the exact pronunciation of this phrase, shaunz de lesee) and 
the " Champs de Mars," are all magnificent ; and if you 
wish to see Paris alive, go into the Champs d'Elysees in the 
evening. Let us leave our hotel, and walk out about 
sunset to this noted promenade. Passing directly down to 
the bank of the river Seine, a small stream running 
through the city, and, standing in the Place de la Con- 
corde, you look directly up a long avenue, with quite a 
forest of evergreens filling the lower part, and rows of fine 
trees skirting the ways, walks and drives, as far as you can 
see. They are beginning to light the gas, and, in a few 
minutes, lines of dazzling light are running off before you 
for a mile or more. Here is a crowd gathered ; in a ring 
are a half dozen athletaa, going through various evolutions 
and gymnastic exercises, standing upon each other's heads 
and shoulders, two and three stories high. Yonder is 
another mass — a fellow swallows a bunch of tow as large 
as your hat, and then draws out of his mouth ribbons of all 
colors, and in any quantity. Here is a clairvoyant, 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 175 

throwing La Roy Sunderland all into the shade with his reve- 
lations. Punch and monkeys, hand organs and hurdy- 
gurdys, donkeys and learned dogs, fandangos and flying 
horses, all in full blast. The crowd increases ; carriages, 
and equestrians, and pedestrians, rolling on in a perfect 
crowd. Soon we reach a theatre, or opera house. An 
elegant saloon, gilded, hung round with rich curtains, 
stands between the wide carriage ways ; in front of this is a 
large restaurant, and between the two hundreds of chairs 
with little tables before them. Pause a moment. As the 
crowd pours by, numbers stop here, and seat themselves 
within this area. We will stand by the railing, and look 
on. Soon it is filled ; waiters from the restaurant pass 
among them, and coffee, and wine, and refreshments 
of all kinds are served, and the performance in the saloon 
commences. You hear some very fine music, for which no 
charge is made ; the concern is sustained by the refresh" 
ments sold in the restaurant. A number of these establish- 
ments are here. Parents and children, laborers and schol- 
ars, the rich and the indigent, throng this place, at the close 
of each day, all smiling and all happy ; you see, no drunk- 
enness, you hear no profanity, you meet with no rudeness. 
You could not collect a crowd so great, in England or Amer- 
ica, without scenes of riot and drunkenness. Every tenth 
man you meet, almost, is in the national uniform. I am 
told there are one hundred and fifty thousand men under 
arms in and around Paris ; and, from the numbers met 



176 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

with here and elsewhere, I should think it no exaggeration. 
We walk on, among such scenes of gayety and pleasure, 
taking more than a mile, when we reach the grand tri- 
umphal arch, I'Etoile, at the entrance of the Champs 
d' Ely sees, begun in 1806, and completed in 1836. It is a 
grand structure, and records all the great French vic- 
tories. Standing in front of this magnificent arch, you 
look down these fine avenues, through the Champs 
d'Elysees, the Place de la Concorde, and the Garden 
of the Tuileries, directly to the front of that grand old 
Palace, a distance of a mile and three-quarters. Nothing 
can exceed the beauty and magnificence of this view, in 
the evening, lit up by thousands of gas-lights, and crowded 
with carriages and pedestrians. The long lines of light 
seem to throw every thing else into the shade ; the moving 
shadows of the multitude are seen, and the hum of thou- 
sands of voices, and the roll of hundreds of carriages, fill 
the ear. And this takes place on every pleasant evening. 
On Sabbath eve, a scene of unusual gaiety is witnessed. 
This fine place is flanked on either hand by splendid 
residenceSs The house occupied by the President, Louis 
Napoleon, stands not far from the river. When the Presi- 
dent is not officially engaged in Paris, he resides at St. 
Cloud. We have not yet seen him, and it is doubtful 
whether we take the trouble — he is hardly worth the 
trouble ; one had rather see the old three-cornered hat of 
his uncle, than the body of the President. We might have 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 177 

witnessed a grand military display on tbe Sabbatb, or have 
seen the great fete at St. Cloud, on the same day, but we 
chose to rest on that day. 

The Champs d'Elysees terminates in the Place de la 
Concorde, on the margin of the river. This is a fine open 
space, with fountains and statuary in abundance ; directly 
before you is the old palace of the Tuileries ; a dense 
forest of trees is between you and the palace, passing 
through which, you come into the beautiful garden, filled 
with blooming flowers, stately orange trees, and luxuriant 
shrubbery. All around you, all through the unbrageous 
space, are found grand specimens of antique statuary, 
splendid pillars, gushing fountains, and inviting alcoves. 
You have already remarked on all the gates, on the ponts, 
on the public buildings, the three magical words, ''^Liberie, 
Egalite^ Fraternite.^^ You see them here, and the 
sauntering soldiery seem to be a kind of sarcastic comment 
upon them. 

Take a seat now upon this bench in the garden, and let 
us reflect a little. All this splendor, and beauty, and 
grandeur creates in me no pleasure, not even unusual ex- 
hilaration of spirits. I have been sad, very sad, since I 
commenced my perambulations about this wonderful city. 
I seem to be examining the skeleton of some great one who 
is departed. I can conceive of this city, this scenery, 
these gorgeous palaces, only as the frame work of some 
mighty drama which creation was called to witness, but 
which has passed away, leaving only the machinery — 



178 KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

the skeleton of history ! the events, the acts, the persons, 
and results, make up the body. With all the throng, the 
din, the bustle of busy life, such a place seems deserted 
and lonely. The men who are here now are mere pigmies 
compared with the former race ; the life of Paris now is as 
the life of a lusty man when you hold a glass to his lips to 
determine if life still lingers, compared with the time when 
he throws his arms abroad, and shouts in the fulness of his 
strength. It is like gazing upon an extinct volcano. 

Before us stands the old Palace of the Tuileries ; not as 
it was. Its windows are broken, its walls are cracked ; 
against one side huge beams are set to keep it from 
tumbling down ; it looks old and worn. Soldiers are 
passing in and out ; reclining in the halls of departed 
greatness ; cooking their food, cleaning their carbines, and 
washing their garments in the chambers of queens and 
princesses. Poor, haggard looking creatures are hurrying 
about the gravelled walks, selling cakes, or begging a sous; 
all looking so in keeping with that motto, " Liberie, 
Egalite, Fraternite.''^ What a burlesque! The man in 
blue uniform, with a 

" Gun upon his shoulder, and a bayonet by his side," 

treads back and forth in front of this old palace, with an 
air of wonderful self-complacency, as if saying, ' ' How do 
you like the looks of my house, eh, bien, monsieur?" 
And the old crone with cakes and oranges, sits calmly 
upon the steps which the feet of royalty once pressed, her- 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 1T9 

self every incb. a queen ! And thus your poetic dream 
vanishes, and you sigh while saying, *' Sic transit gloria 
mundi / " 

This old palace was commenced in 1564, by Catharine 
de Medici, and finished by Louis XIY. ; what scenes of 
gayety and glory has it witnessed since that time ; music 
and mirth have revelled in its splendid halls and saloons ; 
deeds of violence and blood have been perpetrated in its 
secret cells, and groans, which reached no ears but God's, 
have been uttered in its dark solitudes. The most soul- 
harrowing scene which has ever occurred here was in 
August, 1792. It is August now, and sitting here, in the 
calm silence of this hour, let us recall it. 

The unhappy Louis XYI. and Maria Antoinette spent 
the happiest and the most wretched of their days in this 
palace. You know that when their brutal and savage 
subjects clamored for their blood, they resolved on flight 
Through that gate on our right, on the 20th of June, 
1791, at midnight, the unhappy queen passed on foot, 
leading by the hand her little daughter, Maria Theresa. 
She crossed that bridge, the " Pont Royal," which spans 
the Seine, just opposite the gate of the palace, and then 
losing herself in the darkness, wandered for a long time 
through streets and alleys ere she found the carriage in 
waiting for her. 

Louis, leading his little son, of six years, by the hand, 
passed out soon after, and crossed the same bridge, and lost 
himself in the same manner. Hours passed ere they were 



180 RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

united and on their way. They were arrested and 
returned. The pride of royalty betrayed him. He could 
not think of travelling far in a common carriage, but must 
have a carriage constructed purposely for himself, large and 
showy, so that it attracted the notice of the villagers, who 
thronged around it at each place of change, and at last a 
lad with a huge bump of configuration, recognized the 
king as he thrust his head from the window, by his 
resemblance to the image on the coins ! Louis Philippe 
was content to get off in a fisherman's coat, and a cab, 
from his foolish and fickle subjects. Cunning, character- 
istically so, he would have wheeled himself, if possible, out 
of the city, rather than have his neck tickled by the axe of 
the guillotine. 

Back through an insulting crowd the royal fugitives 
were brought to their palace, now their prison. An 
infuriated multitude filled all the garden and the avenues 
to the palace, and as the carriage rolled into the yard, they 
set up a fearful howl. Months passed, and still they are 
prisoners. At last came the terrible crisis. Just a year 
from the time of their escape and recapture, the 20th of 
June, 1792, the passions of the mob broke through all 
restraint. All the evils they endured, all the privation 
and woe, were attributed to the royal family, who had been 
a year shut up in their palace-prison. Their blood will 
wash all away ; that blood they must have. 

You can form some idea of the character of the mob 
which gathered around this palace on that fearful night, by 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 181 

walking through the by-ways and obscure streets of this 
city. Sweep Ann street in your city, empty the "Five 
Points " of New York, summon the lowest and vilest 
from four or five of your principal cities, and you will have 
the ruling power of Paris at that time. How must the 
then unhappy persons have felt as they viewed this spec- 
tacle from their windows, and listened to their horrid yells. 
" To the gibbet with the Austrian," they shouted in their 
rage. The soldiers stationed at the palace sided with the 
multitude. 

"The Place du Carousel" is a large court, or square, 
in the rear of the front of the palace, and flanked on two 
sides by the wings. The " Palace of the Louvre " joins 
the wing of the Tuileries next to the river, and thus 
extends across the east side of the Place du Carousel. 
Your readers can form some idea of the extent of this 
range of buildings, when I inform them that from the west 
corner of the Tuileries to the east corner of the Palace of 
the Louvre it is nearly four hundred toises, or two thousand 
four hundred feet. Within this space three fine bridges 
span the Seine : the Pont Koyal at the front of the Tuil- 
eries, the Pont du Carousel at the great gate of this palace, 
and the Pont des Arts at the great gate of the Louvre. 
To gain the interior of the palace, the mob must gain 
access to the Place du Carousel. Axes, and hammers, 
and bars of iron, soon demolished the gates, and the mass 
of madmen rushed in upon their trembling victims. 

The king ran to the apartments of the queen, and the 
16 



182 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

mob, following, entered with him. Sabres and bayonets 
gleamed before their eyes, and it seemed that their hour 
had come ; happy had it been for them if it had been so. 
Without, the mob were shouting, ' ' Have you killed them 
yet? Throw us out their heads." A red bonnet, the 
badge of the Jacobins, was thrust toward the king on the 
point of a pike, and a cry arose, " let him put it on." 
The king, smiling, took it and put it on his head ! 

In the court-yard stood a pale, thin young man, looking 
on. When he saw the red cap on the head of the monarch, 
he stamped upon the ground, and turning away, he cried, 
*' The wretches ; they ought to be mown down with grape 
shot." It was Napoleon, the future Emperor of France. 

By the firmness of some members of the assembly, the 
royal family were spared for further indignities. They at 
last took refuge in the hall of the assembly. And now 
came the grand act of the drama. This splendid palace 
was sacked by the mob ; the members of the royal house- 
hold were pursued from room to room, bayoneted, and 
their mutilated remains thrown into the yard. Some 
leaped from the windows, and, to escape the wild demons, 
climbed up the statues we see around us ; the mob, 
unwilling to deface the marble images by bullets, pricked 
them with pikes and bayonets, until they dropped off, 
despatched them, and threw them in piles. Splendid fur- 
niture was broken up and thrown from the windows, and 
the drunken wretches outside gathered it together, and, 
kindling the mass, created a light for their horrid work ! 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 183 

The mutilated bodies of the victims were thrown upon the 
piles and burned. The royal family were hurried off to 
the Temple, a lonesome and horrid prison in the northern 
part of the city. That night the hair of the most wretched 
Maria Antoinette, before dark brown, was turned white ! 
Yonder, if you will turn your head, you will see the 
beautiful obelisk of Thebes, in the Place de la Concorde, at 
the entrance to this garden where we are now sitting. On 
that spot Louis XIV. and Maria Antoinette were beheaded ! 
One hundred thousand men, boasting of their refinement, 
witnessed it ! The thunder of sixty brass kettle-drums 
drowned the voice of the wretched sufferer who would have 
appealed to his people ! On the spot where now stands 
the splendid Church of the Madeleine, a pit was dug, and 
they thrown into it and consumed by quick-lime. I am 
sick of these horrors ', let us go ! 



LETTER XVIII. 



Paris, Aug. 10, 1850. 

Friend S : 

TniE number of palaces in this old world illustrates the 
restlessness of man, and shows the insufficiency of wealth or 
station to meet the wants of the soul. One's head swims 
when endeavoring to conceive of the wealth lavished on 
these numerous nests of royalty. "Weary with one, they 
rear another ; with no employment but war, and no higher 
aim but to excel in intrigue and pleasure, these crowned 
simpletons have frittered away their lives in wasteful prodi- 
gality ; each leaving his people with heavier burdens and 
hotter anathemas. The true end of government was not 
perceived by one of a hundred of these royal blooded 
vermin. They leave a curse and not a blessing to the 
people over whom they tyrannized, and are remembered 
only by some astounding atrocity, or equally astounding 
folly. We plain republicans look with pain and disgust 
upon all this. I, your humble correspondent, have been 
184 



KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 185 

passing among the remains of the splendor of former days 
here, with the sadness of Marius among the mourning 
ruins of Carthage ! To me all has a melancholy interest 1 
To think what might have been done, had the true view of 
humanity, of life, of responsibility, been indulged by men 
wielding such power, and possessing such means, is sad in 
the extreme. One is constantly saying, musingly, " all 
for the rulers, nothing for the people." You are wandering 
among palaces, not among schools ; you see no groups of 
bright-eyed and joyous children, with satchels and shouts, 
thronging the way to school, as with us. What education the 
common people get here must be extremely limited. Igno- 
rance and vice go hand in hand ; the mass, with no ideas 
of natural justice, of human responsibility, are ready on 
the first occasion to rush into scenes of carnage and blood. 
There can be no stability in the government of this coun- 
try until the masses are educated, and taught to govern 
themselves. My soul is sick of French republicanism ! 
It is a mere sham. A monarchy, I am persuaded, with 
proper checks, is infinitely better for this people. They do 
not yet know what a republic is ; with them, it is unlim- 
ited license to indulge passions, to trample upon rights, to 
follow their own inclinations without a sense of accounta- 
bility. It is sufficient to make one smile in the midst of 
these sad scenes, to think of the French people rising up 
here in their might, to overthrow a monarch who did not 
oppress his people, who was guilty of little, save bearing 
the name of king, and then, with hands still red with 
16* 



186 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

fratricidal blood, hastening off to Rome to place the Pope, 
'the greatest tyrant on earth, upon the throne from which 
his subjects had just indignantly driven him ! What 
inconsistency ! And then, returning, they write all over 
their city, on the Fonts, on the Arcs, on the Hospitals, 
and the Barracks, '' Egalite, Liberie^ Fraternite.'''' 

Our guide took us to visit some places of interest in the 
city. A company was formed of some travellers who were 
at the same hotel with us, and we started off for the 
palaces which we had not seen, and some other points of 
interest. Taking the left, or south bank of the river, we 
soon came to the " He de la Cite," formed by a division of 
the river, and on which stands the celebrated church of 
" Notre Dame." This is the oldest, as it is the largest of 
the Metropolitan churches. It is nearly coeval with the 
city itself; and stands there in its sombre grandeur, a mon- 
ument of the Grothic ages. It was three hundred years in 
building. It is surmounted by two grand towers, which 
rise conspicuously over the city, like the genius of the past 
gazing upon modern improvements. The Pont Neuf 
crosses the river at the lower part of the island, but the 
church is on the upper end, and reached by a short bridge. 
We entered, and found the usual attendants in the porch, 
miserable beggars; you see, they have taken sanctuary, 
and you must give them a few sous for the "love of our 
mother ! " As in all these great churches, there are here 
some fine altar pieces in the various chapels, and some 
grand paintings over the altars. I know not whethei: 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 187 

religions service is performed here, but I suppose so, 
though churches are not much used now in this city. The 
voices of the greatest of French preachers have filled this 
old pile with eloquent echoes. It is a privilege to stand 
here and dream of it ; what would it have been to hear 
such sermons as a Bossuet, a Bourdeloue, a Fenelon, 
delivered from that old pulpit yonder ! The first named 
preacher pronounced his celebrated oration over the dead 
body of the great Conde in this cathedral. The choir of 
this church is magnificent ; but the interest attaching to 
this venerable pile arises from the fact that here Napoleon 
and Josephine were married and crowned ! I stood upon 
the spot upon which they stood. " Here," said the 
sacristan, " on this square stone stood the Emperor and 
Josephine when they were married ! " This took place 
March 9th, 1796. Was it a weakness to leave a tear on 
that cold marble ? Poor Josephine ! her star here rose to 
its zenith, soon to culminate and disappear in the blackness 
of despair. She stood here again on the 2d of December, 
1804, with her ** CzW," as she playfully called him, 
and was crowned Empress of the French ! We 
gave full and free rein to our imagination, here, and ran 
over the whole drama in its successive acts. The Pope, 
Pius YII., was commanded by his master to appear in 
Paris to crown Napoleon, as his predecessor, Leo X., had 
done for Charlemagne. But there was this difference : 
the last went to the Pope, the first calls the Pope 
to him! But the "Cid" would not acknowledge the 



188 KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

right of Popes to bestow crowns and sceptres. He 
wanted him present merely to add lustre to the act 
he himself would perform. He had created the diadem; 
he had won the sceptre ; he had not waited even for 
the result of the balloting ordered to be had through 
France. The result was known only the day before the 
coronation. He would have the Pope present only to 
secure his influence with the church, and as the old Roman 
conquerors drew the vanquished at their chariot wheels. 
And so the old man must leave Rome, cross the Alps, visit 
Paris, suffer fatigue, and anxiety, and chagrin, merely to 
see Napoleon crown himself! The Te Deum was 
chanted, the echoes rolled through these arches, now silent. 
The priests, cardinals, and officers of state throng the 
church. The " Cid " in his pride, and Josephine in her 
modest beauty, are standing just there on that stone. Thfe 
oath is given ; yonder is the very Bible on which the hero 
laid his hands ; he swears ! The Pope blesses the diadem ; 
and does Napoleon kneel and allow him to place it upon 
his head ? Not a bit of it ; his knee never bent to man ! 
He takes the crown and places it upon his own brow, 
exclaiming: ^^ Dieu me Va donne ; gave quila touche.^^ 
' ' Grod has given it me — let him beware who would touch 
it." England, remember St. Helena! beware! it is 
coming ! And then he himself crowns his consort ; a 
burst of music and a salvo of artillery announce the event ; 
the light disappears — the pageant is gone ! the actors are 
dust ! Two Americans are standing upon the same stone, 



EAMBLES IN EUKOPE. 189 

almost a half century afterwards^ dreaming! Following 
the sacristan, we passed into the room of relics. And 
now how shall I give you an idea of the gorgeousness, the 
splendor, the richness of the coronation rohes preserved in 
this room. The robes of rich crimson velvet, covered with 
gold, in which Napoleon was crowned ; the magnificent 
robes of the Archbishop of Paris, who was slain during 
the revolution of 1830. A magnificent robe worn by 
Louis Philippe, and presented to the church. All these 
vestments are loaded with gold. There is here a splendid 
painting representing the death of the Archbishop ; he 
has just received the fatal shot, and sinks into the arms of 
a by-stander ; his whole countenance a perfect expression 
of reproach ! Groing to a little closet, the sexton took 
out a single vertebrae of a spinal column, and handing it 
to us, said, *' This is from the Archbishop's back ! " In 
the joint was the fatal bullet which slew him ! 

Then came the gold sacramental service used at the coro- 
nation of the Emperor, and which was presented by him 
to the church. The goblets, the tankard, and the censer 
for the incense, were all solid gold, and of the most beauti- 
ful workmanship. I observed that some incense still 
remained, and the sacristan said it was what remained after 
the coronation. It may be as truly so as jnany other 
relics are what they are pretended to be, which you meet 
in these old churches. But at any rate, I begged a spoon- 
ful, and shall take it home with me. I may see Mr. 



190 EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

Barnum ! We spent as mucli time as we could spare, for 
we are sHort of time, and tlien left. You give the attend- 
ants here what you incline, but no charge is made for admis- 
sion to any place but the theatres, and them we did not visit. 

We passed out into the yard, and here we must pause, 
for another painful dream awaited us. Here perished the 
fourth martyr in France under the Lutheran Reformation ! 
and . the second burnt in the city of Paris. Hear a histo- 
rian's account of this act, and imagine yourself standing 
upon the spot. His name is not preserved, but it is known 
in heaven ; his witness is there. 

" In order to render the example the more striking, it 
was determined that he should be burnt in the close of 
Notre Dame, before that celebrated cathedral which typifies 
the majesty of the Roman Catholic Church. The whole of 
the clergy were convened, and a degree of pomp was dis- 
played equal to that of the most solemn festivals. A 
desire was shown to attract all Paris, if possible, to the 
place of execution. ' The great bell of the church of 
Nortre Dame swinging heavily, to rouse the people all over 
Paris.' And, accordingly, from every surrounding avenue 
the people came flocking to the spot. The deep toned 
reverberation of the bell made the workman quit his task, 
the student cast aside his books, the shop-keeper forsake 
his traffic, the soldier start from the guard room bench, and 
already the close was filled with a dense crowd, which was 
constantly increasing. The hermit, (it was a man called 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 191 

the Hermit of Livry,) attired in robes appropriated to 
obstinate Heretics, bare-beaded and with bare feet, was led 
out before the doors of the cathedral. 

"Tranquil, firm, and collected, he replied to the exhorta- 
tions of the confessors who presented him with the crucifix, 
only by declaring that his hope rested solely in the mercy 
of Grod. The doctors of the Sarbonne, who stood in the 
front rank of the spectators, observing his constancy, and 
the effect it produced upon the people, cried aloud, ' He is 
a man fore-doomed to the fires of hell.' The clang of the 
great bell, which all this while was rung with a rolling 
stroke, while it stunned the ears of the multitude, 
heightened the solemnity of the mournful occasion. At 
length the bell was silent, and the martyr having answered 
the last interrogatory of his adversaries, by saying that he 
was resolved to die in the faith of his Lord Jesus Christ, 
underwent the sentence of being 'burnt by a slow fire.' 
And so in the Cathedral close of Notre Dame, beneath the 
stately towers erected by the piety of Louis the younger, 
amidst the cries and tumultuous excitement of a vast pop- 
ulation, died peaceably a man whose name history has not 
deigned to transmit to us — 'the Hermit of Livry.'" 
And so it came to pass, also, that from a land not then 
known, but which now is the most evangelically Christian 
of any in the world, three hundred years after the event, a 
wanderer comes to stand in the close of Notre Dame, and 
muse on the event. More pleasure, infinitely more, do I 
find in visiting such a spot, in calling around me the spirits 



192 RAMBLES' IN EUROPE. 

of the pious dead, who endured such things, and nobly 
died for the testimony of Jesus, than in visiting every 
place of amusement, or witnessing the grandest pageant 
ever got up in this city of fetes and follies. I am trans- 
ported beyond myself ; I feel almost inspired ; and, could 
I do it, I would burst out in an exposition of the glorious 
truths for which these men suffered. Thanks be to Grod 
for such witnesses ! 

A farewell to the old church ; and then a short walk, 
still up the river, on the south bank, brought us to the grand 
"Halle aux Vins," or wine vaults. These vaults are 
extensive, and we went into some of them to look upon the 
thousands of casks of wine piled one upon another. But 
let not our plain water drinking republicans long for the 
wines of la belle France. "We think it fine living, " bread 
and wine," which are the chief articles of diet among the 
laboring classes here. You would not fancy their hard 
black bread, and sour wine. As you pass the bakers' 
shops, you will see large quantities of bread standing 
at the door, looking for all the world like the black and 
dirty handspikes on ship-board. Baked in rolls from two 
to six feet in length, and three or four inches in diameter, 
and hard enough for revolutionary instruments of warfare. 
And then the wine is like vinegar diluted with water, and 
slightly sweetened with treacle. Hard cider makes a good 
substitute for the wines of this land. Grrapes grown in 
warmer climates, containing more saccharine matter, make 
sweeter syrup and stronger wines. 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 193 

But you get but little pure juice of the grape in your 
land. Your Spanisli wines are mostly manufactured ; and, 
indeed, that business is largely carried on here. An intel- 
ligent French gentleman, who has spent much time in the 
United States, informed me that the manufacture of spurious 
wines is largely carried on here ; and he narrated to me the 
entire process. But, though wine is so common here, and 
brandy so plenty, I have seen but little drunkenness, and 
met but few drinking shops, compared with Old England. 
Vast quantities of English porter are sold and drank here, 
— the fatherland is not content to be marked by drunken- 
ness itself, but anxious to make others so. I am conscious 
that I shall offend some of my English friends ; but so be it. 
I still think, and must here record my testimony again, 
that the English nation is the most drinking nation I have 
yet seen. Should I find one more so, ere I return, I will 
place the circlet of Bacchus upon their brow ; until v/hich 
time, England must wear it. The English nation, with a 
population of four or five millions only more than ours, 
expends one hundred and ninety-five millions of dollars 
for strong drinks, — we forty millions. Ireland alone con- 
sumes as much for drinks as the whole United States ! A 
late Parliamentary report states the cost of intoxicating 
drinks in the British Islands at the enormous sum of two 
hundred and eighty millions of dollars, including the sup- 
port of the poor, and the tax for crime resulting from this 
evil. 

At Cette and Marseilles, I am informed, there mq^ large 
17 



194 RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

establishments for the manufacture of spurious wines. 
Wines are frequently shipped from these places to Madeira, 
and then, after receiving the brand of genuine Madeira 
wines, re-shipped to England and the United States. And 
it is well known that large quantities of wine are manufac- 
tured in our own cities. But though wine drinking is so 
common here, you seldom see a person drunk. English 
beer is stronger than French wine, unless the wine has been 
strengthened by brandy. 

Jar din des Plantes. — This beautiful place lies upon the 
ruins of the bridge of Austerlitz, and joining the wine vaults 
on the west. It covers a space of not far from three hundred 
toises, or eighteen hundred feet, on the river, and running 
back about twenty-four hundred feet. It is worthy a visit. 
One might suppose, from the name, that it is filled with botan- 
ical specimens ; but you will find it a condensed creation. 
You will want a whole day to visit it. You think of no speci- 
men of zoology, but you will find it here, from the dormouse 
to the elephant. Ornithology is fully illustrated, and so, 
indeed, is every branch of natural history, — mineralogy, 
geology, conchology, icthyology, and all other ologies and 
ies. You are filled with admiration and astonishment. 
Our own surly buffalo, from the western prairies, our 
stately moose, from the northern forests, with the agile 
reindeer, from Lapland, and the grim, grisly bear from the 
hyperborean regions, with the active black bear of our 
forests. Yonder sits the bright-eyed American eagle, 
taking lessons in French from the ferocious-looking lamraer- 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 195 

geyer of the Alps. Of trees you have here all the varie- 
ties of which King Solomon ever wrote, from the cedar of 
Lebanon to the most tender and delicate mosses. A mag- 
nificent specimen of the former stands in its solitary 
grandeur upon a little eminence. I plucked off a bit of 
the rough bark, and put it in my pocket. 

From here we went to the old palace of the Luxembourg^ 
in the Rue Yaugirard, on the same side of the river with 
the place last visited. This celebrated palace is directly 
south of the Tuileries, and distant about half a mile. In 
front of the palace, which is south, are most magnificent 
gardens, the broad avenue de la Pesuiniere, running off 
to the Observatory, about a half mile distant. You can 
only say in these places, " how beautiful ! " and you do 
not want to say that. You are filled with emotions you 
cannot utter. Your sense of the perfection of art is 
painfully excited. You are dissolved. 

We passed through the picture galleries, for you must 
know that the long corridors and immense chambers of 
these palaces are filled with the finest paintings of all the 
schools. Comparatively, the collection here is small, only 
about three or four hundred; but they are mostly by 
French artists. One can only walk through the rooms, 
wonder, and admire. We saw paintings at London and at 
Hampton, until we began to feel symptoms of a surfeit ; 
but we are but just entering upon our survey of works 
of art. Many of these paintings are Scripture pieces, and 
of an enormous size ; and then so like life, suddenly sus- 



196 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

pended at the very moment of highest interest; your 
religious emotions are raised, and you begin to see the 
secret of the first use of pictures in the churches. Again 
and again, my eyes have filled with tears, and I have 
turned away to the recess of a window to hide my emotion. 
You see Christ on the cross, or the descent therefrom, and, 
ere you are aware of it, as he looks upon you so beseech- 
ingly, so reproachfully, you feel as though you could sink 
into the dust before him ; or you would feel it to be a great 
boon could you be permitted to assist in those sad funeral 
rites. You wonder how persons can pass through these 
rooms laughing and chatting ; it seems sacrilegious. 

This, as a kind of suburban palace, was a favorite resi- 
dence of the older kings and queens of France. The 
chamber in which the peers of the realm assembled, is here, 
and, adjoining it, that of the deputies. The Assembly met 
here in the stormy times of 1788, and '91 and '92. Louis 
XVI. and his family were brought here, and into the 
Assembly, for protection from the mob. Napoleon's 
senate sat here, and his chair is in its place, surrounded by 
a semicircle of seats which were filled with life in those days 
when the occupant of that chair ruled the world, made and 
unmade kings, and played with those baubles, crowns, as a 
boy with marbles. They are empty now and dusty, and 
silence reigns in the halls. 

We went into the private room of Mary de Medici, a 
little room on the lower floor, and in a retired part of the 
palace. Perhaps in the same room it was that Anne of 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 197 

Austria, widow of the weak Louis XIII., was closeted with 
the heart-broken widow of Charles I. of England, when 
messengers announced to her that all Paris was in up- 
roar, and certain concessions must be made to appease the 
multitude. A bell rope of faded silk cord was hanging in 
the corner ; I gave it a pull, and away in the distance the 
clear tinkle of the little bell was heard ; but no waiting 
woman hurried in to answer the summons. The closets 
and chambers where the interests of half the world have 
been discussed, and which have witnessed so much intrigue 
and secret conspiracies, are deserted. Mirth, and music, 
and revelry, are gone. I thought of Moore's lines : — 

" The harp that once through Tara's halls 
The soul of music shed, 
Now hangs as mute, on Tara's walls. 
As if that soul were fled." 

From this room we passed into the beautiful private 
chapel of Mary. Small, with a row of benches in 
the centre, it might accommodate fifty persons. On 
a desk, at one end, lay an old Bible, with faded 
silk marks. In the other was a small organ. I found 
the narrow and dark staircase by which the organist 
mounted to the " organ loft," and went up to the seat; it 
was open : I filled the old bellows, which creaked and 
groaned, as if in pain by the inflation, and, touching the 
well-worn keys, most delicious tones filled the little chapel. 
I played a strain of ''Home, sweet home,^^ in the chapel 
17* 



198 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

of the Luxembourg ! I looked round for a souvenir, and 
could find nothing to bring away but an oaken shaving 
found in one of the closets. My company had passed out, 
and I was locked in ; but the guide, missing me, came 
back and liberated me. I would like to have remained 
there a night. What a romantic adventure it would have 
been ! A night in the chapel of Mary de Medici ! equal 
to Byron's night in the cell of Tasso, ■ — if he ever spent 
one there ! 

Out into the pure sunshine, and the glorious gardens, 
the sweet shrubbery, the living flowers, — living and 
blooming still, while the princely hands which once tended 
and trained them are dust. 0, earth ! if there be no 
better world, what a mockery thou art ! 



LETTER XIX. 



Paris, Aug. 10, 1850. 
Feiend S : 

No city is better supplied with hospitals than Paris. 
No less than thirty are found here. Of course, we 
could not see them all, had we the disposition. We took 
one in our way, yesterday, on our return from the Jardin 
des Plantes, and went through it ; this was the hotel for 
aged and indigent females. It presented a noble front, and, 
on entering, we found it far more extensive than we had 
imagined. It encloses four large courts, and, of course, 
must be very capacious. Our surprise was great on learn- 
ing that it contains now the enormous number of Jive thou- 
sand aged women. The internal regulations seemed to us 
to be admirable. The wards were cleanly, well aired, and 
the beds neat. We went into the culinary department, 
and were pleased to see every thing cleanly. A vast 
boiler, as large as that of a firstrclass steamship, but not 
constructed like that, was filled with soup, which was being 

199 



200 KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

prepared for the inmates ; a preparation of wMcli the French 
are passionately fond. We had never seen so many old 
women together, before, and shall never again. Wandering 
about the courts, grouped together on the benches, gazing 
at us from the windows, all chatting, and all apparently 
happy. Who are they ? where are they from ? what were 
they ? these questions came thronging into our minds. You 
are carried back to the days of the conscription. These 
were wives and mothers. Their natural protectors and 
providers were torn from them, and hurried off to suffer and 
perish in foreign lands. Some of them may be mouldering 
on our own shores in the soil of Yorktown, — some in the 
wilds of Russia, — some on the plains of Germany, — in 
Spain, in Egypt, in England ! What a host of the poor 
sons of France has military glory devoured ! what tales of 
sorrow and of oppression could these aged females unfold! 
How thought must be busy with the past, when the hus- 
band, the son, the lover, was torn away from their embrace 
to return no more. When the remnant of a host of a 
million of men returned broken, sick, dispirited, from that 
fearful campaign in Russia, how many of these eyes looked 
in vain for the beloved form of a husband, or son, or 
one dearer still ! I declare to you this has been to me the 
most painful sight I have seen. 

But it is a pleasing circumstance that the government 
makes this provision for these aged and helpless females 
— these mothers and wives of her heroes. May our own 
government never have occasion to provide such an asylum. 



RAMBLES m EUEOPE. 201 

A short distance brought us to the celebrated '* Hotel des 
lavalides." This grand establishment is situated directly 
opposite the Champs d' Ely sees, on the southern side of the 
river. It stands entirely by itself, in ample space, so that 
it shows to the best possible advantage. Its noble front is 
seen from the opposite side of the river, and its swelling and 
lofty dome is conspicuous from all parts of the city. In 
front, the fine avenue, or " Esplanade des Invalides," twelve 
hundred feet wide, and ornamented with trees, extends to the 
river, while, in the rear, the "Avenue de Bretuil" runs 
back to the " Abbatoire de Grrenelle," one of Napoleon's 
grand slaughter-houses, to destroy the evil of driving 
cattle through the city. By a singular association of ideas, 
this establishment is not far from the home of these old 
slaughterers of men. 

Directly under the grand dome of this pile, the bones of 
the idol of France rest, at last. Your readers will recollect 
that the remains of Napoleon were brought from St. 
Helena by one of the sons of Louis Philippe, the Prince 
de Joinville, and, with the greatest pomp and the most 
impressive ceremonies, deposited under this dome. His 
old heroes, after having followed him over half the world, 
are permitted now to guard his dust. I never experienced 
such emotions as when standing under this dome, and over 
the ashes of the great captain. "How art thou fallen from 
heaven, 0, Lucifer, son of the morning ! how art thou cast 
down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations ! Is 
this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake 



202 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

kingdoms, that jDQade the world as a wilderness, and 
destroyed the cities thereof, that opened not the house of 
his prisoners ? " 

I confess to a great admiration of the genius of 
Napoleon. I believe he had a mission, and he fulfilled it ; 
and when Grod had accomplished his purpose, he let him 
drop. Even to this day, when reading the history of this 
man, and of his final struggle with his foes, my sympathies 
are with him. My judgment tells me that it was probably 
better for the world he should fail, yet my heart longs for 
his success. And, when watching the issue of that final 
struggle on the fatal field of "Waterloo, I cannot be recon- 
ciled to the fact that that dark mass, issuing from the wood 
yonder, is the army of Blucher, and not Grrouchy ! But 
his day had come, and he fell ! All mortal of him is under 
my feet. 

" Weighed in the balance, hero dust 
Is Yile as vulgar clay; 
Thy scales, Mortality, are just 
To all that pass away." 

A mass of old veterans are found here. In their blue 
uniform, with their three-cornered hats, they present a 
unique appearance. Many of them are maimed ; there 
goes one whose ear has been sheared off close to his head 
by the sabre of some Tartar, or the scimitar of a Turk, in 
the Egyptian campaign. Here is one minus a leg, and 
one there an arm. The face of this one is horribly disfig- 
ured by scars ; some Austrian dragoon, in a melee, gave 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 203 

him a blow right across his face. And so I speculated on 
the causes and periods of these injuries. And, ere I was 
aware of it, the poetry of the scene was dissipated by a 
most furious disputation, which issued from one of the halls. 
On entering, I found some two or three hundred of the 
veterans taking their dinner of soup. And such a noise ! 
Each was talking as fast as words can fall from a French 
tongue, which is not slow, and yet in the best possible 
humor. Occasionally you pass an old officer, in his faded 
uniform ; but you see by his step that he is every inch a 
hero. His martial mien, his erect carriage, his stately gait, 
the dignity with which he returns your salute, bringing the 
back of his hand gracefully to the front peak of his 
" chapeau militaire," carry you back to the days of the 
Consulate. You say to yourself, perhaps the hand of 
Napoleon himself affixed that star of the legion of honor to 
that breast ; perhaps it didn't ! 

But here is the place to read the history of the Consulate 
and Empire. It would be worth a journey to this land of 
heroism to sit in this dome, and read the life of Napoleon 
over his dust. You would find the machinery all prepared 
to your hand, while you should call the dramatis persons of 
this great era before you ; under you the dust of the master 
spirit. On your right, " the Tuileries," " the Place du Car- 
ousel," the "Monument of the Bastile," the church of 
" Notre Dame ; " in front, the '' Champs d'Elysees," the 
grand " Column of the Place Yendome," the " Place de 



204 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

Grreve," the " Chamber of Deputies; " and away in the 
distance, on the left, the grand " Arc de Triomphe," and, 
close at hand, the noted " Champs de Mars,'* where such 
splendid reviews were held by Napoleon. All these cele- 
brated places and works form a panoramic scene not sur- 
passed, if equalled, by any place in the world. Paris has 
this advantage over many cities, and London, especially, 
— she has room for expansion. The city is built on a level 
plain, or nearly so, and from a slight elevation you obtain a 
fine view of it. 

Turning now short round to the left, and entering the 
fine avenue " de la motte piquet," we are soon in front of 
the " Ecole Militaire," or great military school of Paris, 
and, between the building and the river, lies the famed 
" Champs de Mars." This place is about three thousand 
six hundred feet long, and about half that in width, flanked 
by the finest avenues lined with trees. Here the military 
parades take place, and here Napoleon so often reviewed 
his troops when commencing his campaigns. I saw one day 
a squadron of horse going through their evolutions in a 
cloud of dust. 

The building is very extensive, enclosing, as is the 
style here, numerous courts. This was, formerly, a 
school for five hundred young men, of noble birth, 
whose fathers had died poor, in active service. It 
has a fine observatory, built in 1788. We took a hasty 
view of this old establishment, mused a little on this 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 205 

plain, "where so many poor fellows had paraded, in all 
the pomp of military splendor, and then left France for 
ever ; and, turning away, took up our line of march for 
the Hotel Bedford. Tea, and a muffin, and a bed ; a 
weary day has this been to us, 

18 



LETTER XX. 



Paris, August, 1850. 

Frienb S : 

We have spent tliis day in visiting some points of 
great interest to tlie historian, the philosopher, the antiqua- 
rian, and the poet. As we wander among these scenes of 
rich historic interest, our feelings become intensely excited ; 
and, I think, after another day, we must fly. Our visit 
here is so short that we must keep on the qui vive, and 
that so constantly as to become painful. We come home 
at night so exhausted as to be scarcely able to climb to our 
resting place ; we seize our pens, make a few notes, and 
are asleep, not even dreaming. 

Our course was directed to the old chosen home of so 
many kings and queens, the Palais Roy ale, but a short dis- 
tance from the Tuileries, perhaps two hundred feet,, and so 
situated as to form the apex of a cone, of which the 
Tuileries, the Place du Carousel, and the Louvre, form the 
base line. It is in length nearly twelve hundred feet, and 
206 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 207 

the front is very fine. The basement is fitted up most ele- 
gantly for shops, or bazars. You pass around in a 
sheltered walk, the entire court, and find it filled with glit- 
tering shops, most tempting articles arranged in the finest 
style, to tempt the eye and draw the coin from your 
pocket. If you stop to price an article, you are gone ; 
you may as well buy at once. Your polite and bowing 
Frenchman will follow you to your hotel. I wanted a pair 
of shoes, thick and strong, for Switzerland's rough hills. I 
stepped into a shop, but could find none to suit me ; at tea 
time, the persevering cordonnier was at my hotel with a 
bag full ; and though I profess to be a good judge of a fit 
for myself, at least, and a Yankee to boot, he cheated me, 
and put off upon me a pair which I knew were too 
small. 

The finest cafe, it is said, in the city, is at the Palais 
Roy ale. 

This beautiful pile bears about the same relation to 
French history that " Hampton Court " does to English. 
That was built by Cardinal Wolsey, and given to his 
master, Henry YIII. ; this was built by Cardinal Riche- 
lieu, and, after he had become sick of it, he gave it to, not 
his master, but his slave, Louis XIII. It was built in 
1629, nine years after the persecuted Puritans landed upon 
the frozen shores of the new world. It was the private 
property of Louis Philippe at the time he so suddenly 
found himself an exile. Its long and splendid galleries 
are filled with paintings ; its gardens, fountains, and 



208 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

embowered walks, make it a paradise of a place, second to 
none in Europe, it is said. After an hour or two, spent in 
wandering through the splendid rooms of this palace, we 
left to finish the Louvre, where we had once been, but for a 
short time. I think I have described the position of this 
old palace in a former letter. But I am confident I shall 
not describe the interior at all. It has been converted into 
an immense gallery of the fine arts. Thousands of 
pictures, of every school, and from the pencils of all the 
old masters, and the productions of all the modern, cover 
the walls. Statuary, from the fine antiques sent from 
Rome by the Emperor, to specimens of modern sculptors, 
fills the lower rooms. The marble seems instinct with life ; 
one is awe-struck ; you speak in whispers to your com- 
panions, lest you disturb the meditations of these old 
heroes and statesmen. There stands Nero, an antique, 
brought from E-ome ; you can read his character in the 
head and face. The low and narrow forehead, the very 
small size of the anterior and greatness of the posterior 
portions of the head, and the thick lips, exhibit the sensual- 
ist and the tyrant. Near him stands the apostate Julian, 
the curl of the sceptic on his lip, while his large benevo- 
lence, and prominent perceptive organs, show the kindly 
disposition and the scholar. The spoils of war, the treas- 
ures of conquered lands, are here. Curiosities from 
Italy, Egypt, and the Indies are here ; and it would be as 
impossible for me to describe the wonderful collections in 
this palace as to build another like it. One wishes to stay 



RAMBLES IN EUKOPE. 209 

here a year, and to visit such a place at his leisure ; a cata- 
logue of the things contained in this museum would of 
itself be a ponderous volume. 

You pass into the " model room," filled with the finest 
models of the principal towns in France, so arranged as to 
give one a perfect idea of their situation, extent, harbors, 
&c. And then there is before you the French navy, in 
miniature, from the first square-built, clumsy drogers, to 
the modern, fairy-like clippers, and neat war steamers. 
There are here also some interesting relics of other days — 
parts of the golden barge of the " Grrand Monarque," 
Louis XIV. — the prow, or figure-head, the carved and 
gilded work of the stern, the decorated quarter-boards, and 
the gay saloon, with rich silk awnings, under which the 
dissolute king and his court ladies reclined when rowed 
about the harbors of Havre-de-Grrace, Calais, and Boulogne. 
One model in this room will fix the attention of the visitor 
more than any other, and that is the model of the 
machinery for lowering down and moving the great obelisk 
of Thebes, which now stands in the Place de la Concorde, 
on the spot where Louis XVI. and his unfortunate consort 
were beheaded. The visitor in Paris will be struck with 
this relic when he first visits that interesting spot. He 
sees standing before him a red granite shaft, square, taper- 
ing to a point, and covered with strange characters cut into 
the stone, which he will at once detect as Egyptian. The 
whole appearance is foreign. It has been calculated that 
this stone must have been cut one thousand six hundred 
18* 



210 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

£ifed forty years before the Christian era, or three thousand 
four hundred and ninety-one years ago ! It is composed of 
one entire stone, seventy-six feet in height, and weighs two 
hundred and fifty tons ! It was a present from the Pasha 
of Egypt to Charles X., but was not removed to France 
until 1833, and was placed on its present foundation in 
1836. It stands on a heavy base, laid in the centre of a 
fountain, so that beautiful jets of water are spouting up 
tiround it. Before you, in the model room, you see the dif- 
ficulties of removing such a mass of stone from the spot 
where it had stood for more than three thousand years, and 
the manner of conquering those difficulties. 

It stood some distance back from the river Nile. A 
way must first be cut, and a railroad constructed to the 
river. The obelisk was then encased in wood to prevent 
abrasion. Then, by means of immense tackles, blocks and 
windlasses it was lowered down upon its bed and rolled to 
the river. The ship that was to transport it to France was 
hauled in to the wharf built for the purpose, her stern 
sawed entirely off, the obelisk run into the hold, the stern 
was then attached again to the ship, caulked and confined, 
and she sailed for France with a cargo of thirty-five 
centuries ! " Forty centuries are looking down upon us 
from the Pyramids ! " said Napoleon to his soldiers when 
in Egypt ; and twenty-five years afterwards French enter- 
prise and genius set up thirty-five of them in the Place de 
la Concorde ! 

We reluctantly left these curiosities, and started off to 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 211 

visit the celebrated cemetery of " Pere la Chaise," in the 
eastern extremity of the city. 

On our way we passed the site of that celebrated prison, 
the Bastile, where so many have pined in utter wretched- 
ness ; the scene of crimes which make us blush for 
humanity. It is gone, and a splendid column stands in its 
place, on which one reads, "The French people to liberty." 
Your readers will recollect that in the fearful revolution of 
'92 the mob demolished this prison. A large open square 
is formed here, on all sides of which are seen marks of the 
last revolution. Buildings are riddled by shot, the holes 
still remaining. "Here," our guide would say, "was a 
barricade." And he would become greatly animated when 
speaking of those bloody times. " We must have two 
more revolutions," he would say, " and then the govern- 
ment will become settled." Here is another military 
station. These open squares and the various boulevards 
afford fine places for the gathering of the mobs, and conse- 
quently you find at such points the military stations, and 
thousands of soldiers ready at the beat of a drum to rush 
forth and sustain a Republic I We soon reached the 
famous cemetery, the most noted in the city. But, I con- 
fess, I was disappointed in its general appearance. It has 
not the natural advantages nor the elegance of some of 
our own cemeteries. As we approached it, we passed 
numerous stone-cutters' shops, and manufactories of a 
peculiar kind of wreaths made of black and white whale- 
bone, scores of which are hanging upon the tombs. 



212 RAMBLES m EUEOPE. 

The most common and the most beautiful tombs are in 
the form of a recess. A glass door permits you to look 
into the little chamber. A little marble altar, with a wax 
candle or two upon it, and some of these wreaths, either 
manufactured as above stated, or made of flowers, hang-ins: 
upon the image of the virgin, with a chair for the occu- 
pant, (not the dead !) and a prayer book, compose the 
furniture. 

The mourners, when visiting the tomb, spend sometime 
in reading prayers for the souls of the departed. False as 
we felt the doctrine to be, the practice was touching. 
Here blessed memories are cherished, hours of gladness 
recalled, and the warm tribute of affection paid to departed 
friends. We could but repeat those expressive lines : — 

" O, who would cast 
The undying hope away, of memory born ! 
Hope of reunion, heart to heart, at last, 
No chilling doubt between, no rankling thorn." 

Here sleep some of the most illustrious men and women 
of France — her divines, her scholars, her statesmen, her 
men of blood ! maintaining various positions in life, now 
by death levelled. The changes going on around them 
disturb them not. 

« After life's fitful fever 



They sleep well." 

There is the tomb of poor Marshal Ney. He could find 
no bullet for his breast at Waterloo, but the barbarous 



EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 213 

Bourbon, Louis XYIII., found one for him. I took 
a leaf from a tree bending over his tomb. However the 
restored Bourbon might feel toward " the bravest of the 
brave," he had no power to send him to his execution ; he 
was only a puppet in the hands of his restorers ; and all 
historians agree that a word from Wellington might have 
saved him ; but that word was not uttered ; the heartless 
old butcher sent him to his rest. He was, of the two, the 
better soldier and the better man ; he had a heart — I 
have no evidence that the old Duke has any. I think the 
death-shot of poor Ney, and the groans of his poor old 
father, must echo around the dying pillow of the Duk6 ! 
May he find the mercy in that hour which he refused to, a 
father ! 

The following account of this atrocious act, which, as an 
English writer remarks, "■ overshadowed the great name of 
the Duke of Wellington," is irom the pen of an eye 
witness : "At nine o'clock in the morning, Ney stepped 
into a hackney coach, dressed in a blue frock. He had 
sent to ask M. de Semonville for a bottle of Bordeaux, and 
had drank it. The grand referendary accompanied the 
Marshal to the coach ; the cure of St. Sulpice was by his 
side, and two officers of gens d'armes on the box. The 
dismal party crossed the Luxembourg gardens on the 
observatory side. On passing the iron gate, it turned to 
the left, and halted fifty paces further on under the wall of 
the avenue. The coach having stopped, the Marshal 
stepped nimbly out, and, standing eight paces from the wall, 



214 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

said to the officer, 'Is this the place, sir?' 'Yes, Monsieur 
le Marshal.' Ney then took off his hat with his left hand, 
laid his right on his heart, and addressing the soldiers, 
cried out, ' Comrades, fire on me.' The officer gave the 
signal to fire, and Ney fell without any motion." 

Moliere has a magnificent tomb. The visitor will pause 
before the elaborately wrought tomb of Eloise and Abelard, 
the guilty and unfortunate lovers. When the people 
brought their remains here from their old and remote rest- 
ing place, the priests refused to take part in the imposing 
fete, or perform the service for the dead. ''Take your 
choice," said the aroused sovereigns; "perform the service, 
or we will make you just so much shorter ! " significantly 
drawing the edge of the hand across the throat ! They 
submitted. The well worn border of this fine tomb attests 
the deep interest of the visitors to this celebrated spot. 
The roof of this tomb is an arch resting upon fourteen 
fluted columns ; under the arch lies the figure of Abelard 
with Eloise by his side, their hands clasped upon their 
hearts. 

One naturally seeks the group of the tombs of Napo- 
leon's celebrated Marshals; you stand among them, and 
read the names of Massena, Kellerman, Davoust, Lefebvre, 
Souchet, and, at a little distance, Ney ! Names which 
turned men pale, whose deeds filled ihoi world with won- 
der, and who shook the world with terror ! now silent and 
still ; a little ashes under our feet ! And here you are also 
among the scholars and statesmen of France. 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 215 

There are in this city six cemeteries ; but this is the 
finest and most visited, because it contains the ashes of the 
most illustrious of the sons of France. Its name is that of 
the principal of a community of Jesuits who originally 
held the grounds. On the highest elevation of the 
grounds he had a fine chateau, called ''Mont Louis," in 
honor of the king, Louis XIY. ; and no doubt many a 
^' Popish plot " has been planned within its walls. 

This land was purchased by order of Napoleon, and 
devoted to a cemetery ; and the name of ' ' Father la 
Chaise " is sent down to all future generations. As we 
left the cemetery, we met a funeral procession going in. 
The subject must have been one of the lower order ; and 
they hurried on, jostling each other, without order or deco- 
rum. Some bare-headed priests hastened on in advance, as 
though impatient of delay, and anxious to close up the 
unpleasant task. You are constantly coming in contact 
with these monks and friars. You enter a rail car, he is 
there ; or a cafe, he is there ; you meet him in the public 
places of resort, still the same demure looking, sly, but 
apparently sorrowful man. You are reminded of the 
"knight of the rueful countenance." One cannot fail to 
see that their influence over the masses is weakened, and 
they are not treated with that respect and deference 
formerly paid to them. They are not of the people, and 
have no sympathy with them. They have always arrayed 
themselves on the side of tyrants, and against liberty of 
speech and freedom of thought ; and, therefore, the people 



216 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

look upon them with suspicion. It seems a pity that they 
cannot change their garb, and thus lose themselves among 
the crowd to some extent ; but the mark of the beast is 
upon them still. A long black surtout falling almost to 
the heels, and buttoned up to the chin ; a belt or cord 
around the waist ; a narrow white neckcloth, with bands ; 
a three cornered or shovel hat, with round crown, and a 
book under the arm, completes the costume ; and if the 
chapeau is removed, you see a bare spot of the size of a 
dollar upon the crown of the head ; that is called making 
the tonsure. It is probably intended as a mark of wisdom, 
as it indicates age. 



LETTER XXI. 



Paris, August, 1850. 

Friend S : 

As we could not possibly visit all the interesting local- 
ities in the yicinity of this city of wonders, we pitched 
upon such as would most fully compensate us for our 
trouble. We should have been glad to visit Fontain- 
bleau and St. Germain, but they were distant, and the 
time which we should consume in the visit was wanted 
for some other places. We told our cicerone that we 
would go to St. Cloud and Yersailles ; the first distant 
from Paris six miles, and the last, twenty. Accordingly, 
this morning we started out into the Place de la Concorde, 
and our guide hailing a 'bus, we mounted on the top, and 
off we went directly down the Seine. We soon came to 
the great gate in the wall which the old king Louis 
Philippe threw up to prevent the '' Blouses " from mshing 
in from the country in a time of revolution. This wall 
and moat, with the fortifications around the city, are on a 
19 217 



218 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

grand scale. In case of another invasion it would be of 
essential service ; but in time of insurrection, it only makes 
escape from Paris more difficult. 

Appropos of the "Blouses." Your readers will recol- 
lect that during the last revolution much was said of " the 
blouses " in the fierce combats in the city. When you get 
out into the suburbs, especially on Sabbath afternoon, you 
meet them by scores pouring into the city and thronging 
the streets. They are the peasants and common laborers, 
wearing a short gingham or fustian frock, called a blouse. 
In all the insurrections in the city, these fellows fought 
like tigers. Without education, without refinement, with 
nothing to lose and all to gain, their animal natures ruling, 
it is not surprising that they should fight. This is the 
material of which the armies of France have been com- 
posed, (and, indeed, this is true of all armies ;) and the 
more animal, the greater the thiist for blood. 

We soon entered a forest of small sized oaks, a mass of 
foliage. " Here," said our guide, " was the camp of the 
English army after the fatal battle of Waterloo, when 
Paris fell into the hands of the ' allied sovereigns.* " 
" Yonder the Kussian army advanced on that side of the 
city." "There the Austrians and Prussians were en- 
camped, and the city was surrounded by armed men." 
The old fellow was excited. I thought I saw something 
like moisture in his eye, when speaking of the fall of the 
city; I might mistake; but I know another eye that 
seemed to have a mote in it, and suddenly had occasion to 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 219 

look off in another direction. That was a sad day for tho 
gay city, when the ringing hoofs of PlatofF's Cossacks 
came thundering down the Avenue de Neuilly into the 
Champs d'Elysees, and all the splendid boulevards were 
filled with foreign troops. Poor Napoleon ! his star sank 
into darkness. 

A ride of an hour, through such scenery as is to he 
found only in the vicinity of Paris, and upon a magnificent 
road, brought us to the village of St. Cloud. We imme- 
diately walked up to the palace. Though not the largest 
of the country palaces of the kings of France, yet St. 
Cloud is a perfect gem. Standing uipon an eminence, it 
commands a view of the city, and of the surrounding 
country to a great extent. It is built in the usual style of 
such edifices, on three sides of a court, open in front. 
We marched up to the door, and were admitted by the 
man in waiting, dressed in a plain republican garb. Your 
readers must not forget that we have come now to an 
inhabited, and not a forsaken palace. Louis Philippe 
made this his favorite home, and the President Louis 
Napoleon resides here, except during the sessions of the 
Assembly, when he finds it convenient to reside in Paris, 
and has a house on the west side of the Champs 
d'Elysees. Of course, this palace is fully and superbly 
furnished ; much of the furniture is the same as used by the. 
late king and his amiable family. We entered, and then 
turning to the right, came at once to the grand staircase ; 
and such a flight of steps we had not before seen ; all was 



220 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

composed of the finest Italian and Egyptian marble — the 
steps, the banisters, the balustrade, the walls, all highly 
polished marble. A grand fresco painting over head 
causes one to pause. 

But a minute description cannot be given. We went 
through room after room, noiselessly, on the finest Brussels 
and Turkish carpeting, — dining saloons, dancing saloons, 
drawing rooms, sleeping rooms, &c. ; the walls covered 
with mirrors, and the rooms filled with most magnificent 
furniture. The grounds are extensive, and finely laid out, 
with a grand arrangement of water works, which are played 
for the amusement of crowds of visitors on the Sabbath. 

This was the favorite residence of Napoleon. 

Here he had the retirement he chose, and yet was so 
near to Paris as to be able to keep his eye upon the run- 
ning machinery of government. 

Here the unfortunate Josephine spent the happiest days 
of her eventful life ; here she received her death-blow. 
We talked of these matters when walking through these 
splendid rooms ; and the thoughts of the anguish, the dis- 
appointment, the suffering which these mute things had 
witnessed, made us sad. 

When we left, our guide said we had better give the 
conductor a franc, and we did so ; and, no doubt, the 
rogue got his share of it when he came round with another 
company. 

We walked from this point to the celebrated " Porcelain 
Manufactory of Sevres." It lies about a mile from St. 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 221 

Cloud, and near the park. It is a government establish- 
ment. The finest ware in the world is manufactured here. 
You see no workmen ; the mode of operation is a secret ; 
you only see the product of superior skill. You are 
admitted to an extensive suite of rooms, all filled with this 
beautiful ware. Magnificent vases, some of which cost as 
high as one hundred thousand francs ; dining and tea sets, 
richly ornamented and gilt ; tables ; stands for lights ; pic- 
tures, of all sizes and prices — all porcelain and most beauti- 
ful. We were shown some fine articles, owned by Napoleon, 
of surpassing beauty and extravagant cost. Each article 
has its price affixed. A description can give no just idea 
of the exquisite workmanship of these articles. I saw what 
I supposed was a fine painting on canvas, a copy of which 
I had seen in the gallery of the Louvre ; but I was surprised 
to learn that it was porcelain, and was a copy of the beau- 
tiful painting I had elsewhere seen. When you recollect 
that the most of these colors are put on before the process 
of baking the article, and that a moment too long in the fire 
mars the whole, you will appreciate the difficulty of manu- 
facturing such articles. I wanted to purchase a cup as a me- 
mento, but the fear of a smash-up somewhere on the thousands 
of miles I have yet to travel, ere I reach home, deterred me. 
We now went to the railway station, and took the cars 
for Versailles. We soon rushed into the old town. Time 
has been busy here. The buildings, once splendid, are 
now dilapidated, and going to decay. But little business 
is done here. It grew up under the influence of the 
19* 



222 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

*' ancient regime,^^ was fostered Iby the court, and when 
the halls of the old palace ceased to resound with mirth, 
Merriment, and court festivities, the glory departed from 
the town. A fine avenue, lined with superannuated pop- 
lars, runs through the town, and extends, our guide- 
informed us, to St. Cloud. We walked dhectly to the 
palace. It is an immense pile, on three sides of the court, 
so large that an army might manoeuvre in it ; it is nearly 
four hundred feet wide. In front of the court are the 
royal stables, — themselves palaces, — built of stone, with 
mm. railings with gilt points ; these stables are so curved 
as to give to the court the shape of a horse shoe. In the 
palmy days of " le grand monarque," Louis XIV., a 
thousand steeds were kept saddled and bridled, ready for 
mounting in a moment, if a hunting fit should seize the 
lazy loons. What days were those for France ! What a 
waste of wealth, — of time, — of talent, — of energies ! 
What oppression of the poor ! — what a total disregard of 
their interests ! 

As you enter the court, you pass between gigantic statues 
of some of the illustrious men of France, or some antique 
brought from a distant clime. On either hand are edi- 
fices which were occupied formerly by some members of 
the court, servants, or courtiers. The main buildings are 
now before you as you go, trembling with excitement, up 
this court, whose every stone contains some historic incident. 

In March, 1789, this court was filled with a mad and 
drunken mob, besieging the royal family in the palace. 



RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 223 

Yonder is the balcony upon wliicli the wretched Maria An- 
toinette was compelled to appear with her children, before a 
mob of demons. The National Assembly, consisting of 
twelve hundred members, was in session here at that time ; 
and down this court marched the king and family, followed 
by the Assembly and Lafayette, with thirty thousand of the 
National Gruard, bringing up the rear, and surrounded by 
that drunken mob. How easy for Lafayette to have sent 
them all howling back to Paris as they came. One charge, 
and they would have scattered like sheep. But he had 
caught the fever of freedom in America, and desired a 
change at home, and yielded until the elements were past 
control. 

The main part of the palace was designed to show but 
from the gardens. You cannot make out its form until you 
pass through and view it from the side opposite the court. 
The centre building is three hundred feet in front, and 
about two hundred and fifty feet deep, while on each side 
stretch away the wings to an extent of over five hundred 
feet. Our guide informed us that there were one thousand 
rooms in the entire palace, only half of which are open 
to visitors, and that you must walk twelve miles to 
pass through the whole. I thought this might be French 
stuffing for Yankee geese; but when we had finished 
our perambulations, I assure you I had more faith in 
his honesty. This immense mass of buildings was 
erected about the middle of the seventeenth century, 
by Louis XIV. He was not houseless, by any means ; 



22-4 EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

but he was weary of St. G-ermains, and wanted a new 
residence ; and so he expended money enough here, 
in the midst of his hunting forests, to put a decent 
school house in every hamlet in his kingdom, and 
sustain a teacher in each. It is said that the enor- 
mous sum of two hundred millions of dollars was 
expended upon the buildings, gardens, and grounds ! 
A sum equal to the cost of the philanthropic effort of 
the United States to convert Mexico, recently. 

You must not suppose you will find this palace fitted up 
for a royal residence, now; nothing like it. Louis Philippe 
conceived the grand idea of converting it into a cabinet 
of curiosities; hence, as you pass up the court, you see 
upon the front this inscription, "^ toutes les gloires de la 
France.^'' This great man undertook, at his own private 
cost, to clear out the rubbish, to restore many of the halls 
and saloons to their original splendor, and to fill the rooms 
with the finest productions of art. You see portraits of all 
the French kings and queens, statesmen and scholars. 
You pass through room after room, and read, as you pass, 
the history of the kingdom, the revolution, the republic, and 
the empire. Battles, and sieges, and victories ; all the cam- 
paigns of Napoleon, — all the victories of the republic, — all 
the changes of government, down to that of Louis Philippe 
in 1830. And I saw a space left where Horace Vernet, 
the fine French painter, might paint a poor old man, in a 
fisherman's jacket, running out of Paris, with a five franc 
piece in his pocket. Many historic pieces, by the above 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 225 

named artist, are yet unfinished ; designed, when completed, 
to present a view of the French campaigns in Africa. Mag- 
nificent paintings they are, too. How the figures look out 
from the canvas ; the cannon wheels seem to roll before you, 
and you seem to hear the peculiar squash of the foot of the 
flying camel in the hot sand. All belongs to the nation ; 
the king gave it to the nation as a public museum. And 
now you meet that every where present lie, here, also, 
^'Liberie, Egalite, Fraternite.''^ Here is the dancing 
saloon of the great Louis, three hundred feet long, and 
lined with mirrors, forty feet high, and thirty-five wide. 
Yonder, as you ascend the grand marble stairway, you see 
the private chapel, and the private hox in which the family 
ensconced themselves to snore while the mockery of wor- 
ship was going on below. When the great Conde, in 1675, 
visited Louis XIY., the king went as far as the great 
staircase to meet him. Conde was creeping slowly up, as 
he had nearly lost the use of his limbs by the gout, and 
when he saw the king at a distance, he exclaimed, " Sire, 
I crave your Majesty's pardon, for keeping you so long in 
waiting." "My cousin," said Louis, "do not hurry 
yourself; when one is so laden with laurels, one can hardly 
walk so fast ! " There's wit for you. 

Here you pass through the grand dining saloon. What 
scenes of festivity and revelry has this room witnessed ! 
Three thousand servants were flying backward and forward 
here. Graston of Orleans, Turenne, Conde, Guize, Beau- 
fort, and Cardinal Mazarin, the successor of Richelieu, 



226 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

have feasted here. What a line of kings and queens and 
favorites have here sat together, while millions of the 
wretched people were suffering privations which make one 
shudder to think of. Do the pale and shivering ghosts of 
the departed, who have revelled in these halls, revisit 
these scenes of their orgies, to mourn over the past? 
Versailles at midnight ! I should like to spend a night 
here ! with the moonbeams streaming in through these old 
windows, and dancing upon these old oaken and waxed 
floors ; to pace backward and forward through these solitary 
places for a night ! Not that I should expect to see ghosts, 
only those of my own creating ; but it would be such a 
night with past grandeur ! 

Our guide folds his arms, and, while we are looking, and 
wandering and meditating, he is the very image of the 
genius of the glory of France ; he starts, and we start with 
him. Here is the antique room or hall. Into the wall, 
here, Louis Philippe has worked the magnificent doors of 
the church of the old Knights of Malta. They were a 
present to the king, and he has left them for the people ; 
they are made of cedar, and finely carved. Here is also 
the original mortar in which those Knights of the order of 
St. John compounded their medicines ; I should think it 
might contain half a barrel. 

Away, again, into another wing ; and now we are in the 
veritable bedchamber of the grand monarque, just as he 
left it when he went to his account. His bed stands before 
you, ample in its dimensions, being, at least, six feet wide, 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 227 

and seven or eight in length, with heavy silk curtains and 
covering. But the silk looks old, and well it may ; it has 
been hanging there for two hundred years, while the great 
world has been rattling on without. Yonder lies the sceptre 
of Louis XIY., a massive gilt bauble. His crown stands 
there in its solitary grandeur. Where is the wearer ? we 
asked ourselves. What emptiness is the glory of the 
world ! I never heard such sermons on the " airy, empty 
nothingness " of earth as I have heard here ! But I can- 
not take you into all the rooms ; one wants a month or 
more here. My brain seemed to swim with the excitement 
of seeing. " Come this way," said our guide, and I saw 
a mischievous smile pla3nng about the corners of his mouth. 
" Look now, messieurs," said he, as we turned a corner, 
and came suddenly into a small-sized room, but imperfectly 
lighted. Surely I have seen that face before ! John 
Quincy Adams ! The last time I saw him was in his coffin. 
And there is Jackson, and the elder Adams, and Madison, 
and Monroe, and Jefferson, and Franklin, and Henry Clay, 
and Daniel Webster, and, to crown all, the father of his 
country ! Illustrious Americans ! gathered by their friend 
and admirer, the king of France, and brought together here, 
in this old palace, to create surprise and give pleasure to 
any Americans who might be wandering through these 
halls. " Look on this picture, and on this." You will 
not be ashamed of these American heads and countenances 
in this vast collection of portraits. 

Some of these rooms are hung with the tapestry of the 



228 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

olden time. In those days the rough walls of rooms were 
covered with hangings of cloth, loosely pendant from the 
ceiling. Our ancestors called it arras from the name of 
the town of Arras, in Artois, where this article was manu- 
factured. This arrangement afforded a fine hiding place 
for intrigue ; and ear-dropping Polonius says, in Hamlet, 

" My lord, he's going to his mother's closet. 



Behind the arras I'll convey myself, 
To hear the process." 

And then Hamlet hears the old courtier behind the curtain, 
and, making a pass with his rapier, through the curtain, kills 
the old man. Some specimens of the tapestry in this palace 
are really magnificent. One piece, covering one side of a 
room about six yards square, we were told, consumed ten 
years in its manufacture. It is a historic piece, but we could 
not pause to study history. The finest tapestry now made is 
the Gobelin ; but we could not stop to visit the manufac- 
tory. The poetry of it is destroyed by steam and 
machinery ; the old tapestry was the work of the fingers. 
Queens and fine ladies spent their leisure hours in this 
employment ; this splendid piece we have been looking at 
was the work of curious fingers. Poor Catherine, queen 
of Henry YIII., is made to say, by the poet : — 

" Take thy lute, wench ; my soul grows sad with troubles : 
Sing, and disperse them, if thou canst ; leave xoorldngP 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 229 

The long and painful captivity of Mary, Queen of Scots, 
— a captivity of sixteen or eighteen years, — was beguiled 
"by embroidery and such work," says the historian. 
" Aliens ! " says the guide ; and " aliens," says time, too. 
We passed into a department below, and came to a carriage 
room; a large carriage, like one of our first class stage 
coaches, stood before us. " The coach of Charles X,," 
said the guide. It was covered with gold, down to the 
tire of the wheels, — a mass of gilt ! " One of the proxi- 
mate causes of the revolution of 1830," said I to the 
guide. He grinned, and gave his shoulders a shrug.* 

Out into the garden, where we get a fine view of the front 
of this astonishing pile. Only imagine an extension of a 
building like this, the centre and the two wings measuring 
eighteen hundred feet ! all adorned with fine marble statu- 
ary, standing upon the roof, in recesses, and on the corners. 
"We pass directly into the Orangery. Here are eighteen 
hundred orange trees, in bearing, set in large square boxes. 
A late French journal, in an account of a horticultural exhi- 
bition, gives the biography of a cluster of orange trees, now 
in the garden, and called the High Constable orange. The 
story is, that Leonore of Castile, wife of Charles III., king 
of Navarre, having eaten a Seville orange, — a small species, 

* When Charles X. was driven out of the kingdom, some of the 
mob who followed him returned to Paris in the coronation, 
carriages, and this among others ; and, pompously entering the 
court-yard of the Palais Royal, shouted, " Hallo ! here are your 
carriages ! " 

20 



230 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

both sour and bitter, — found it so good (there is no 
disputing about tastes) that she was induced to plant five 
of the seeds in a pot. The seeds all came up and grew, 
and the young plants became the objects of particular care. 
This was in 1421 ; and the five trees were cultivated at 
Pampeluna, then the capital of Navarre, till 1499, when 
Catherine, wife of John III., King of Navarre, sent them 
as a present to Anne of Britain, wife of Louis XII., king 
of France. 

Subsequently, the trees went into the hands of the High 
Constable of Bourbon, and remained at his chateau, in 
Bourbonnais, till 1553, the period when Bourbonnais was 
seized upon, the High Constable declared a traitor, and the 
province re-united to France. The five orange trees, which 
were mentioned in the inventory of the High Constable's 
goods that were confiscated, as "an orange tree, of five 
branches, which came from Pampeluna," were carried, by 

order of Francis I., to Fontainbleau. The five orio-inal 

o 

plants had now grown together at the roots, three of the 
branches uniting so intimately as to form one common 
trunk — the other two remaining so detached as to consti- 
tute distinct trees. The trees were named in the catalogue 
of Fontainbleau as the " High Constable." 

When Louis XIY. had completed Versailles and its 
magnificent green-house, he collected there the orange trees 
of the other royal residences. The ''High Constable " was 
carried there in 1684, and the new name of Grand Bour- 
bon, the name which it now bears, was given to it. What 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 231 

is most singular is, that when these famous trees were taken 
to Yersailles, in 1684, they were confided to the care of a 
gardener by the name of Lemoine ; and by him and his 
offspring — son succeeding father in the direct line of de- 
scent — the trees were cultivated until 1833, when the last 
of the name retired from the post, having no son who could 
succeed him. These famous trees are thus four hundred 
and thirty years old, and, during a century and a half, 
have been uninterruptedly under the care of the same 
family. 

The President was causing some alterations and improve- 
ments to be made in the garden, and it was not in its usual 
state of order. We started off for a walk through the grounds. 
It seems to me that I have been dreaming, and shall wake 
soon, and say it is a vision ; no poetic description of scenery 
you ever read comes up to this reality. Milton's cele- 
brated description of Eden is faint compared with this 
scene. 

"All trees of noblest kind for sight, smell, taste," 

were here. 

" Rose a fresh fountain, and, with many a rill. 
Watered the garden." 

"From sapphire fount, the crisped brooks, 
Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold, 
With mazy error, under pendant shades. 
Ran nectar, visiting each plant, and fed 
Elowers, worthy of Paradise, 
In beds and curious knots. Thus was this place 



232 KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

A happy rural seat of various view. 

Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm ; 

Others, whose fruit, burnished with golden rind, 

Hung amiable ; Hesperion fables true, — 

If true, here only, and of delicious taste. 

Another side, umbrageous grots and caves 

Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine 

Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps 

Luxuriant. Meanwhile, murmuring waters fall 

Down the slope hills dispersed, or in a lake, 

That to the fringed bank with myrtle crowned 

Her crystal mirror holds, unite their streams. 

The birds their choir apply ; airs, vernal airs, 

Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune 

The trembling leaves." 

We walked through long avenues of majestic forest 
trees, trimmed with such care for many years, that, from the 
ground to the height of fifteen feet, they presented a wall of 
compact foliage ! And then, parterres of beautiful flowers, 
lanes and sparkling fountains, altogether formed such a 
scene as my eyes will never see again. You make no turn 
but an exquisite specimen of statuary meets your eye. 
Heroes, and sages, and scholars, gods and goddesses, and 
satyrs, grave and gay, are met with every where. What 
taste, — what art, — what luxury, — what extravagance, — 
what sin ! 

We came to the gi-and fountain, which cost over three 
hundred thousand dollars ; and the expense of playing it 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 233^ 

on the Sabbath, when the grounds are filled with people^ 
is nearly two thousand dollars ! 

Look yonder, in the south-west corner of the park ; 
another palace ! It is Le grand Trianon, — a centre and 
two wings, the front composed of fine marble columns. 
Few buildings among us are so large as this little palace. 
What was it? A plaything for one of the mistresses of 
Louis XIY., Madame or Mademoiselle Maintenon. And 
then there is still another Petit Trianon, about half the 
size of the former, and built for the same purpose. Can 
we wonder that the people of the old countries are poor and 
ignorant, when we consider what vast sums have been, and 
still are, drawn from them to support royalty ! The 
French people have become weary of the burden, and have 
dismissed it for a little season, until they can take breath ; 
but it will return again. Their more patient neighbors 
over the channel, are still " Issachar, — couching down 
between two burdens," church and state. One child of 
Victoria and Albert, under ten years of age, draws a reve- 
nue of three hundred thousand dollars from the Duchy of 
Cornwall. The wonder is, not that the patience of the 
people is sometimes exhausted, but that they submit to it a 
moment. My pleasure, in walking among these beauties of 
nature and art, was constantly marred by the reflection that 
it cost the people so muck, and has entailed upon this 
nation such an amount of ignorance and misery. 

If I had time and means, I would stay here and study 
20* 



234 RAMBLES m EUROPE. 

and write tlie history of Versailles. From its foundation 
to this time, events which have had an influence upon 
the world have transpired here. From the planting of the 
first French colony in Canada, about the time of the build- 
ing of this palace, to the flight of Louis Philippe, history- 
turns to this scene for illustrations. What plans, what 
intrigues, what plots have been here devised ! And what 
is most humiliating, (not that I will reflect upon the ladies 
at all,) is, that miserable courtezans for ages con- 
trolled the destiny of the world. Wars have been waged, 
crowns given away, and countless treasures wasted, to please 
them. 0, when will men learn to rule themselves, and 
construct governments with only so much machinery as will 
secure the stability of the state. 

The shadows wer^ falling around us as we slowly and 
reluctantly turned our faces towards Paris. I was never 
more weary. I had been on my feet all day. My brain 
seemed on fire, and I sank into my seat in the cars with 
such a feeling of exhaustion as I had never before 
experienced. 

I should mention one thing for the benefit of any of your 
readers who may chance to come to Paris. We ventured 
to dine at Versailles, against the advice of our little hand- 
book ; but 0, ye, my successors in this pilgrimage, venture 
not to attempt it. You will get nothing to eat, and be 
charged four times as much as a good dinner will cost you 
in Paris. We entered a restaurant and called for milk for 
one, and meat for one. I had a task to make the waiter 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 235 

understand that my companion wanted a spoon, and she 
brought a large soup ladle, that would contain a pint ! I 
asked for a glass, to drink from, and was brought a plate 
of dii'ty ice, cut up into bits, for which I was charged two 
francs ! I called for strawberries, and they were brought, 
— poor things, and on the stems. Our dinner cost only 
five francs apiece ! O, ye tourists, dine not at Versailles ! 



LETTEH XXII. 



Paris, August, 1850. 
Friend S : 

I SHALL see no more of Paris, at least for the present; 

and I have given you but an imperfect sketch of what I 

have seen, and more imperfect still of what I have felt. 

The flying visitor can see but little of a city like this ; and 

his knowledge of its condition, its wants and ways, its sins 

and sufferings, must, if drawn from observation merely, be 

very imperfect. But an American goes into Paris with 

different feelings from one of any other nation. He 

remembers 1775, the dark period in his country's history, 

the assistance received from her, the struggles she herself 

has passed through for constitutional liberty, the defeats 

she has suffered, and the wrongs endured, both from her 

own unprincipled Bourbons and the combined powers of 

Europe ; and he pities her. That her people are so poor, 

is not because her soil is sterile and her skies unpropitious, 

nor because her people are naturally indolent ; but because 

236 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 237 

her rulers have been so rapacious, bent on their own 
aggrandizement, spending millions upon the palaces and 
toys I have been looking at, and nothing for the people. 

That they are ignorant is not from want of capacity, 
but because the "mother of harlots," a corrupt church, 
has been leagued with the civil power to sustain that 
abominable maxim, "Ignorance is the mother of devo- 
tion ; " and because despots know right well that intelli- 
gence and oppression walk not together, not being agreed. 

As a running commentary on the neglect of the educa- 
tional interests of the people, by a government always 
seeking its own aggrandizement, look at the following 
official returns of the " bureau of instruction " for the year 
1845. The whole population is divided into six classes 
— three degrees of ignorance, and three of instruction. 

IGNORANCE. 

1st. Unable to read and to write, 16,855,000 

2d. Able to read, but not to write, 7,097,000 

3d. Reading and writing partially, 6,968,000 

INSTRUCTION. 

4th. Reading and writing correctly, 2,430,000 
5th. Having the elements of a classical 

education, 735,000 

6th. Completed classical studies, 315,000 

Total, 34,400,000 

Our pulse beat quick in America during the last conflict 
between the people and the government, and we rejoiced 



238 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

when the people triumphed, and it was said, " France is a 
Republic." But how soon was our joy dissipated by the 
marching of ten thousand troops to Rome, to sustain by 
Fi*ench bayonets the worst despotism in the world, and 
force back upon the suffering people that miserable dotard 
the Pope, Pio Nino ! Freedom blushed for shame ! 
And now what is the French government ? A military 
despotism ! 

The people, the masses, have little more freedom than 
the serfs of Russia. England is more of a republic than 
France, and her people enjoy more freedom. True, the 
masses walk through the halls of the Tuileries, the Palais 
Royal, the Louvre, and the Luxembourg and Yersailles ; 
true, they call these places ows, and talk of national 
properti/ and freedom, and read all around them, *' Lib- 
erte, Egalite, Fraternite ; " but an armed soldier accom- 
panies them in their walks, and hears them read those 
words of mockery. They move under the serveillance of 
an armed police, and are conscious that ''words spoken in 
the ear in closets, will be proclaimed upon house-tops." 

The government rests upon bayonets. Gro to the house 
of Assembly yonder, across the Seine ; arms are stacked 
upon the steps, and fierce sentinels pace backwards and 
forwards before the door. Look at the old Palace of the 
Tuileries; soldiers' shirts are drying in the windows, and 
the tramp of armed men is in its antique halls. Many of 
its public buildings are barracks ; and every hour in the 
day heavy armed dragoons are galloping through the 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE, 239 

streets, and masses of infantry passing from point to point. 
Here is a city of not far from nine hundred thousand 
inhabitants ; and there are stationed in it, I am informed, 
nearly one hundred and fifty thousand armed men ! Your 
beautiful city of Boston has one hundred and forty thou- 
sand souls, and how many troops? Why, I believe a 
company of marines is stationed at the navy yard in 
Charlestown, to keep the place in order, and, if I recollect 
rightly, somewhere down in Merrimac street there is a 
recruiting office, about the door of which you will occa- 
sionally see a long, lank, lazy lout, who has let himself for 
eight dollars a month to wear blue satinet and whistle 
Yankee Doodle ! New York has a population of five hun- 
dred thousand souls, and a company of marines are per- 
mitted to live in a fort down the harbor to hunt out the 
rats ! What would Bostonians think to see the State 
House steps covered with armed men, to see the old State 
House, the Athenseum, the King's Chapel, the Custom 
House, and Park street Church, converted into military 
barracks ? Why, they would pack up and go west some 
two or three thousand miles, out of the sight of such a 
spectacle. 

The truth is, the people here are not prepared for a 
republican form of government. The masses are uned- 
ucated ; intellect and heart are against it. They have no 
just views of constitutional freedom, and they have never 
learned to govern themselves. The elements of freedom 
are not here. With them, unbounded license is liberty, 



240 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

and they submit only when forced to submission. I shall 
look for sad scenes at the next election. Louis Napoleon 
is in fact a king ; he has all the ambition of his illustrious 
Uncle, with none of his genius. He has the power, and, if 
he can keep the soldiers on his side, he will keep it. 

I have lost none of my affection for the French people, 
but much of my faith in their Republic. By their Koman 
campaign they have sadly illustrated a republican form of 
government before the suffering and king-ridden people of 
Europe. May they soon atone for and repair their error. 
I shall rejoice if my fears are not realized, and my prog- 
nostics prove no true prophesies. 

I shall be asked often, no doubt, " How do you like 
Paris?" I was somewhat disappointed in the city as a 
whole. It has some rare beauties, and many sad defects. 
You are not in the smoke nor the crowd of London. What 
is fine is very fine — tres lien — three times good, as they 
say for very fine. The main attractions are the palaces, 
the gardens, the boulevards, and the river. The boule- 
vards (boolvards) are magnificent avenues, with double 
rows of trees ; the principal ones being the Madeleine, 
Capucines, Montmatre, St. Dennis, the Temple, and 
Antoine, on the north side of the Seine, running from the 
Rue Royale, near the Place de la Concorde, which lies on 
the river below the Palace of the Tuileries, and running in 
a semi-circle round to the Place de la Bastile, close by the 
river again, but far above the palace. And then on the 
south side of the Seine the Boulevards des Invalides, com- 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 241 

mencing at the Hotel des Invalides, wbicli fronts on 
the river, directly opposite the Place de la Concorde, 
the Boulevards du Mont Parnasse, Boulevard d'Enfer, 
(what a juxtaposition ! ) St. Jacques, and that of le Hos- 
pital, which comes out to the river again at the Bridge of 
Austerlitz, and just opposite the Place de Bastille, and 
forms another semi-circle, so that the whole makes one 
grand circle on both sides of the river, and includes the 
whole of the old city on the north, and much of the new 
on the south. Your readers must remember that the mean- 
ing of Boulevard is bulwark, or rampart, and then the 
design of these wide avenues will be apparent. They were 
intended for fortifications, or city defences, and the proba- 
bility is that they are laid out where the old walls of the 
city formerly stood. You find the first named of these fine 
ways crowded with people in the afternoons and evenings. 
But the gayety and brilliancy of the city must have dimin- 
ished greatly since the flight of royalty : and then, this is 
not the fashionable season. 

The Seine is crossed by about twenty bridges of stone, 
iron, or wood — some of them very fine ; and the banks of 
the river are walled up with hewn granite, for a distance of 
ten or eleven miles. But you see no shipping here. I 
saw one solitary steamer coming up from St. Cloud, on 
Sunday afternoon ; that was all, except some wood boats. 

The buildings on the great thoroughfares are fine, built 
of stone, and clean, not covered with soot. But most of 
the streets are as narrow and crooked as those of Boston. 
21 



242 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

One spectacle, so interesting to an American, is not seen 
here, namely, throngs of " satcheled school children," on 
their way to school. You see multitudes of children, in- 
deed, but they are seeking any thing but knowledge. 
France, old as she is, has not yet reached that important 
and interesting point in a nation's progress. When her 
people become intelligent, when the masses are educated, 
then, and not until then, will she enjoy the blessing of a 
stable government. May the time soon come. 



LETTER XXIII, 



Laxtsanne, Lake Leman, \ 
Aug. ]0, 1850. j 

Friend S — : 

Two days before we left Paris we took our guide and 
went to the office of the Diligence to procure seats — a 
precaution all important, as the amount of travel is so great 
as to crowd the public conveyances. We found the seats 
all taken but two in the rotonde, which we engaged, and 
paid the fare thereof. Thursday in the afternoon we went 
to the point of departure, and as our "billets" said we 
must be punctual at six o'clock, we were there half an hour 
before the time. We found nearly a dozen carriages pre- 
paring to start for different points ; and as we had not 
taken notes as we should have done, we were a little puz- 
zled to find " our carriage." We had no interpreter with 
•us this time, and found ourselves in Babel ! Such a chat- 
tering, scolding, and, I presume, swearing, as we now 
heard, was most annoying. We could inquire of no one 
for the diligence for Lausanne, and began to think we must 

243 



244 RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

be left, when a tall young man wliom we noticed, with a 
fine looking young woman on his arm, stepped up to us, 
and, with true French politeness, offered, in broken Atner- 
ican, to render us any assistance he could. His wife, he 
told us, was from Boston, in the United States ; and as 
they were going in the same carriage, she would talk for us 
with pleasure. We had an introduction, of course, when 
I told him I was from Boston, and our perplexity was at 
an end. We took our seats in the carriage after the con- 
ductor had examined our tickets, and found no one in our 
compartment. 

I must give your readers some description of the French 
diligence. Imagine a long clumsy carriage, some fifteen 
feet in length, divided into three compartments. Its ex- 
ternal appearance is not unlike one of the Cambridge 
omnibuses, but heavier and clumsy. The front, or first 
place, is the coupe, and is like an open carriage, with glass 
windows on the sides and in front, with a seat running 
crosswise, for three persons. This is the most pleasant 
position and the highest price. The second is like a com- 
mon coach, with two seats facing each other, and accommo- 
dating six ; this is called le interieur. The third is called 
le rotonde, with seats lengthwise, and accommodating six, 
with the door opening in the end. Behind the cocker, or 
driver, is another seat for three, called le banquette. In 
pleasant weather, and by day, this is the most pleasant 
seat. The seats are numbered, so that, in each depart- 
ment, it is not " first come, first served ; " but this is fixed 



RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 245 

when you buy your ticket. The fare to Lausanne was 
forty-six francs; the distance near four hundred miles, 
We were informed that the first hundred would he by rail- 
road. The baggage is packed on top, in straw, as though 
a journey of weeks was before us. 

Our seats were numbered five and six, which, to our 
dismay, we found to be the middle of each seat. Presently 
a woman got in with a child in her arms, and took a corner 
seat. Soon came an old Swiss woman, and took another 
corner. Then came two fine looking young women and 
took the other corners. Horror ! we were doomed to ride 
two days and nights, sitting bolt upright, between two 
women ! That ride haunts me now ! So much did I 
sufier from fatigue, want of sleep, and hunger, that I think 
a post mortem examination of my brain would show the 
image of the rotonde of a French diligence, with four 
women, a child, and two men ! 

Half an hour after the time, we rattled out of the place, 
drawn by five horses, two on the pole, and three abreast, 
ahead. Half an hour brought us to the railroad depot, and 
now, instead of an order to alight and take a comfortable 
car, we heard a bustle about the carriage, and soon found 
ourselves swinging in the air, and then gently set down 
upon the platform of a car. The bell rung and off we 
went. Sometime in the night, we reached the terminus of 
the road, where the same operation set us again upon 
wheels, and we moved off at the rate of about five miles 
per hour. We were an unsocial set as ever fell together. 
21* 



246 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

To my question, " Parlez-yous Anglaise, Madame, or Mad- 
emoiselle," each gave a shrug and the answer, ** Ne, Mon- 
sieur." But the old Swiss lady was most diligent in her 
efforts to make me understand. I j&nally bought out her 
corner seat, for two francs, for my aged companion, as I 
feared he would be exhausted by fatigue. When the 
morning dawned, at last, we stopped ten minutes, just to 
swallow a bowl of hot milk, coffee and bread, when the 
conductor's cry, " Monte," hurried us off. I observed the 
young ladies were in the care of a young gentleman, in the 
interieur, who addressed me, as I tumbled out in the morn- 
ing, exclaiming, " 0, Monsieur, you most happy, so much 
ladies — I envy you, Monsieur." " Tres bien, Monsieur, I 
shall be most happy to exchange with you," said I, pushing 
the laughing rogue toward the open door ; but he could 
not think of it ; he would not deprive me of the pleasure ! 
I saw the lady who had the child take out a book, when 
the day dawned, and commence reading. When she had 
finished, I asked her for the loan of it, when I was agree- 
ably surprised to find it to be a French Protestant Bible ! 
I soon learned, by the help of the Bible, that her husband 
was in the banquette^ with two more children ; that he was 
an assistant pastor, or missionary from Switzerland to 
France, where he had been laboring for six years, and was 
now on his way home to the Canton of Yaud. When she 
learned that we were pasteurs, also, from America, I 
thought we should have had a shout in the diligence. In 
the afternoon the young ladies left us at Besancon, and the 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 247 

pasteur took his place in the Rotonde ; and when his wife 
told him who we were, he gave ns a most cordial greeting ! 
I regretted much our inability to converse together. 

Our course is not the usual route from Paris to Switzer- 
land, which is by the way of Lyons to Greneva ; but we 
had no time to spend at Lyons, and hasted to reach Switz- 
erland as soon as possible. And then, this route took us 
through the Franche Compte, or county of Burgundy, 
an old and interesting port of France. The old towns of 
Besancon and Pontalier are interesting from their historic 
associations. We stopped to fry to dine at the first, an 
operation in which I made a great failure : as while I was 
washing and getting ready for dinner, the operation with 
others was over, and I was near losing my passage. It 
was here that the assassination of the illustrious William of 
Nassau, Prince of Orange, the successful leader of the 
Protestant forces against the Catholic powers, was planned 
by the Catholics; and here was reared the fanatical assas- 
sin, Balthazar Gerard. 

For an entire day we rolled along through a level and 
uninteresting country, and the most of the distance by a 
canal, whose banks were lined with rows of tall poplars, to 
be seen, often, for miles ahead of us. How I longed to 
be gliding along that canal in such a boat as I had seen on 
the Erie Canal, instead of lumbering on in that horrid car- 
riage. We saw but little life on our route. 

" A deathly iteration reigned around ! " The whole 
land seemed struck with paralysis. A few women were 



248 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

occasionally seen in the fields, at work. How unlike 
former times, when mighty armies were thundering over 
these plains, and the soil was enriched with gore. 

When the second morning dawned, we were winding up 
a valley in the Jura Alps, just commencing our ascent. 
I opened the window and looked out, and such a scene of 
magnificence and grandeur burst upon my vision as I had 
never before witnessed. The mountains were towering 
high above us on either hand ; while down below us still, 
hundreds of feet, a little streamlet was winding its way to 
the valley we had left. As the ascent was such that our 
horses, of which we had now nine, could move no faster 
than a walk, we called to the cocher to stop, while we 
could alight and walk. The morning was cool; a delicious 
and balmy air revived us, after being pent up for so long a 
time in the diligence ; the sun was just beginning to gild 
the distant mountain tops, and all nature seemed waking 
to fresh life. We started off, and out-walking our team, 
we walked at least four miles. The road was the best 
I ever saw ; graded, so that the ascent was regular, and 
so well macadamized as to be smooth as a floor. On the 
outer edge a hewn stone parapet was laid in cement, so that 
there could be no danger of running off into the valley 
below. By the way, every hundred rods, or so, a recess is 
excavated in the side of the hill, where is deposited a mass 
of broken stone, for repairing the road. You occasion- 
ally meet a man with a badge on his hat, who is the super- 
intendent of the way ; he makes examinations, removes 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 249 

obstructions, and repairs damages. And all this is the 
work of the poor old exiled king, Louis Philippe! We 
passed through a fine tunnel, cut through a spur of the 
mountain, to shorten the distance. And now began the 
realization of the poet's picture — 

" Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise." 

We were in a region of wild solitude, where nature dis- 
plays her rarest magnificence. I never enjoyed such a 
walk ; I never expect to enjoy another such. We reached 
the summit of the first range, and then, mounting again, 
rattled down into a quiet, little, old, dirty, hamlet, where, 
with keen appetites, we got nothing to eat but bread and 
coffee. We were now to leave the old diligence and take 
smaller coaches, or hacks, each accommodating four per- 
sons, as the roughness of the region made travelling in the 
diligence too slow, even for a French driver. Two young 
English lads, whom we had taken up somewhere, and who 
were going to Lausanne, were joined to us, and we were 
soon bestowed in a small hack, ox fiacre, with one immense 
horse in the shafts, and one very small one by his side, for 
company, merely. Indeed, if a French driver had four 
horses, two of which matched perfectly, he would mis- 
match them, for the pleasure of the contrast. Our first stage 
brought us to the boundary of France and Switzerland ; 
and a little plain building was standing by the way, before 
which we drew up for a fresh visa of our passports, which 
was most politely done in a few minutes. A tremendous 



250 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

crack of the wblp of the cocker, and we are in Switzerland. 
And here the valley of Lake Leman comes into view, 
with the long and lofty Alpine range, white with eternal 
snow, beyond it. It was some hours before we caught a 
view of the beautiful Lake Leman, or Greneva, which, at 
last, as we left a mountain range behind us, came out in 
all its placid beauty, like a mirror, spread out, that the 
mighty Alps might view their awful forms ! Our way was 
down the mountains, and our new driver was either drunk 
or crazy, for he cracked his whip with might and main, and 
we went down at a fearful rate. These postilions seem to 
be persons of immense importance ; and the poor peas- 
antry, whom we met on the way, when they heard the ter- 
rible crack of that whip, crowded out against the wall, and 
gave us the whole way. 

We soon came to the bottom of this fearful descent, and 
then came a change of carriage, again. The owner wished 
to pack us into a thing not large enough for two, but we 
told him no ; and, after some scolding, he brought a fine 
fiacre ; and our ride, of three hours, to Lausanne was very 
pleasant, through highly cultivated fields and splendid 
scenery. At three o'clock, Saturday, P. M., we rolled 
over the pavements of the old town of Lausanne, and put 
up at the Hotel Faucon, or the Falcon. Our driver 
dropped us, and asked no questions. Our tickets were not 
even looked at from the time we left Paris until we arrived 
here, and we have them yet. 



LETTER XXIV. 



Lausanne, Aug. 12, 1850. 

Friend S- : 

You have been in Switzerland, and therefore you, afc 
least, can excuse any enthusiasm which I may manifest in 
my letters. We have heard, and read, so much of the 
Swiss — of their independence, their bravery, their intel- 
ligence, their zeal for the true faith, when in possession of 
it, the persecutions some of them have suffered, that one 
naturally feels excited when among them for the first time. 
We happened here at a very opportune season for witness- 
ing a display of genuine Swiss patriotism. Our landlord, 
who, by the way, is a German, and has laid in but a few 
words of American, informed us, on our arrival, that we 
were most fortunate in coming at this time, as the next day 
was a fete-day ; and as the next day was the Sabbath, we, 
of course, supposed it some great religious festival. But 
we learned that it was the anniversary of the securing a 
Constitution, four years ago, on the tenth of August ; and 

251 



252 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

as it tins year came so near the Sabbath, it was postponed 
a day, to save time, by the Protestant citizens of the Can- 
ton of Vaud ! It was to be, in foet, a Fourth of July 
celebration among the Alps ! And it was a worthy imita- 
tion of their republican brethren over the water — powder, 
guns, thunder, music, revelry, fighting, and drunkenness ! 
Sabbath morning, at daylight, wo were awakened by the 
thunder of cannon ; and soon strains of martial music 
came, borne on the morning air. A company of militaiy 
were drawn up in front of our hotel. Perhaps they had 
heard that two brother republicans had arrived, and in- 
tended to honor us. But I concluded not to present my- 
self on the balcony ; and as for my companion he would 
not go to the window to look at them. 

Early in the day the peasantry came pouring in from the 
country around ; processions of boys and girls, and troops 
of young ladies, in the beautiful Swiss costume — short 
dresses, not street sweepers — with broad brimmed hats, 
trimmed with ribbons and flowers. I walked out upon the 
parade ground, in the afternoon, to look upon the scene of 
gayoty. A great extent of tables were laid out in plain 
style, furnished with meat, bread, and bottles of wine. A 
square, with four entrances, was enclosed on the green, 
over one of whicli was the following inscription : 

" Pour nos pas, Symphonic — 
Dans nos canirs, Harmonie, 
Chere Patrie." 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 253 

I heard no oration, but suppose one was delivered. At 
sunset a grand salvo of artillery closed tlic scene, and the 
crowd dispersed. We heard there was a religious service 
in the English church, about a mile from our hotel, down 
towards the lake ; and we attended, at eleven o'clock, and 
found about a hundred gathered together, mostly English, 
to whom was delivered a very good sermon. Afterwards 
we went to one of the churches in the village, but found 
only a few women assembled, the men being engaged in 
the celebration. 

Lausanne is one of the many beautiful villas on Lake 
Leman ; it is the capital of the Canton of Yaud, and con- 
tains sixteen thousand inhabitants ; the whole Canton 
having a population of a little over two hundred thousand. 
The most of the inhabitants are what are called Reformists, 
there being only three thousand Catholics in the whole Can- 
ton. The common language is French. It has a fine old 
cathedral. We spent some time in examining its an- 
tiquities. It was originally, of course, a Catholic cathe- 
dral ; but when the reform came, it swept away its peculiar 
features. 

It contained a number of marble statues of the old 
Abbots, and other church dignitaries ; but the zealous 
Swiss could have no such things in their churches, and so 
they broke off their noses, and ears, and lips, as far as 
possible, and left them in that disfigured state. A fine 
hospital is here established, and a number of literary insti- 
tutions. The first we visited, as one of our company was a 
22 



*. 



254 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

physician from New York, and the ruling passion con- 
trolled him even here. We were shown through the whole 
building ; all was neat and clean ; but I do not enjoy such 
sights — 

" Wherein are laid — 
Numbers of all diseased, all maladies 
Of ghostly spasni, or racking torture, qualms 
Of heart-sick agony, all feA-^erous kinds, 
Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs ; " 

where 



*' Despair 

Tended the sick, busiest from couch to couch ; 
And over them, triumphant Death his dart 
Shook, but delayed to strike." 

I was glad to reach the open air. 

We went to the Museum, which, though not so large as 
Kimball's, of Boston, is far richer in curiosities. A sub- 
terranean passage has been recently discovered and opened 
here, which contained a great quantity of Roman antiqui- 
ties, as urns, vases, helmets, brass swords, and coins. All 
these are now in the Museum, and take you back in lime 
some thirty centuries ! Perhaps Julius Caesar left them 
here, or Hannibal, in some of their excursions into Glaul. 

Your readers must not forget that we are now on 
ground which has shook beneath the tread of the steel-clad 
Roman legions. A piece of an old Eoman road is here 
shown, over which whole hosts have marched ; and, it may 
be, the very forces which conquered Britain. 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 255 

A tall glass case attracted our notice, and we found it 
filled with articles once the property of Napoleon Bona- 
parte ! And, among the rest, the old, huge, iron key of 
his prison at Longwood, St. Helena ! One would think 
that the shade of his hard-hearted jailer. Sir Hudson Lowe, 
would be after it ! Here were three saddles and bridles 
which the hero had used ; some of them well worn, all 
elegant, with plated bits and stirrups, and blue housings, 
trimmed with gold lace. Two fowling pieces, one double 
barrelled, and both silver mounted. His spy-glass and 
spurs. His old 'pocket map of Europe, on which he 
traced his course over the Alps ! You see a line in red 
chalk from Greneva, over the mountains, into Italy, done 
with the hand now crumbling to dust under the dome of 
'' the Invalides! " Various curious coins of his are here, 
also. All these articles he gave to his faithful old Swiss 
valet, who died in this town about two years since, and, at 
that time, bequeathed all these relics to the Trustees of the 
Museum. The deed is in a glass case, on the wall. We 
stood and gazed at these things a long time, and one of 
the company left a tear there. I would rather see these 
little, dumb mementos of the *' petit corporal," than all 
the crowned empty skulls of Europe. 

This town is built upon hills, and, of course, the streets 
are irregular and steep. A curious old custom still prevails 
here. The inhabitants of one particular street constitute a 
court for the trial of all criminal cases. Their decisions 
may be as impartial as those of juries of twelve men. 



256 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

There are liere many really splendid private residences, 
mostly owned and occupied by English. One I noticed, 
on the gate of which was written, " Mon Repose;" per- 
haps an old army officer, retired on half pay. Another, 
" Mon Desir," some poet, who had dreamed of a paradise, 
and had at last found it on the banks of the smiling 
Leman. I visited one beautiful situation, owned and occu- 
pied by an old bachelor, an Englishman. Crossed in love, 
perhaps, and mad with all woman-kind, he had built a 
place, attractive as money could make it, in which to pine 
alone for the rest of his days. 

We saw but few vineyards until we reached this place. 
But here every hillside is covered with vines; some I 
have seen of many hundreds of acres. The mode of cul- 
ture is not to allow the vine to run ; but it is planted in 
rows about four feet apart, and grows up about four feet 
high, and is suffered to go no higher. When young, the 
vines are tied to stakes ; but as the stalk gets to be old it 
supports itself. Some we saw were a hundred years old. 
The growth of each year is cut off; as grapes never grow 
on the stem of last year's growth, but on the new shoot. 
They are tilled like a field of Indian corn. At this time 
the grapes are about two-thirds grown, and the vines hang 
full of clusters. 

One spot attracts the notice of all travellers, and that is 
the site of the residence of Gibbon, who here wrote his 
great work^ the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." 
The house he occupied was destroyed by fire, and a large 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 257 

hotel, called the " Hotel de Gribbon," has been erected on 
the site. But the garden in which he walked, and where 
he repeated aloud every sentence of his work, still remains. 

A beautiful lime tree which he planted still flourishes, 
and I plucked from it a leaf to bear across the Atlantic 
with me. 

Rising up behind the village is an immense rock, or ele- 
vation, called " le grand vue." Just before sunset I 
started for this spot, alone. The walk was much longer 
than I supposed, and when, at last, I stood upon the sum- 
mit, hundreds of feet above the lake, the sun was just set- 
ting. Before me rose 

" The Alps, 
Those palaces of nature, whose vast walls 
Have pinnacled in clouds their snowy scalps, 
And throned Eternity in icy halls 
Of cold sublimity." 

Behind, and on the right, the lofty range of the Jura, be- 
hind which the sun was just disappearing. The shadows 
of evening had already mantled the lake at my feet, but 
the lofty summits of the Alpine range still glistened in his 
last rays. I sat down and watched them as, one by one, 
the shadows enshrouded them. Night's huge and dusky 
form seemed to be stalking over the everlasting hills, and 
extinguishing the lamps of day. All around me was an 
unbroken view of the wildest scenery in the old world. It 
was worth a voyage across the Atlantic to get that one 
22* 



258 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

view of sunset among the Alps. I lingered until darkness 
admonished me that it was time to seek my hotel, when I 
retraced my steps with the conviction that I had witnessed 
the most magnificent scene my eyes would behold, until 
they shall see these mountains melt in the final conflagra- 
tion, when 

" Above, around, beneath, amazement all ! , 

Terror and glory joined in their extremes ; 
Our God in grandeur, and our world on fire ! " 



i 






LETTEE XXY 



Geneva, August 13, 1850. 
Friend S : 

As we had engaged, wben in Paris, to meet two Amer- 
ican gentlemen from New York, in Geneva, we took, this 
morning, a tiny *' bateau au-vapeur,'' alias a steamboat, 
at the little village between Lausanne and the lake, and 
glided down that fine sheet of water to this old town, dis- 
tant about forty miles, which we made in about four hours. 

At our second stopping place, we had pointed out to us 
the residence of Madame de Stael, and her father, the 
celebrated Neckar, after he was dishonored at the French 
Court. It is a large, uncouth building, with four turrets, 
one at each corner, looking for all the world like the tower 
of London. Beautiful Lake Leman, its surface smooth as 
a mirror, and the mountain shadows resting upon her bosom 
in majestic repose. The Alps, rising in lofty grandeur 
upon one side, and the Jura chain stretching away in the 

259 



260 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 



1 



distance on the otber. Here Byron must have penned 
that fine stanza — 

" Far along, 
Erom peak to peak, the rattling crags among, 
Leaps the live thunder ! Not from one lone cloud, 
But every mountain now hath found a tongue ; 
And Jura answers, through her misty shroud, 
Back to the joyous Alps, who call to her aloud." 

This fine sheet of water is from five to twelve miles 
wide, hut the height of the mountains on each side makes 
it appear much less. You feel that it is beautiful ; hut, 
when compared with our lakes, it dwindles to a mere pond. 

Soon after we started, around came the skipper to collect 
the fare ) he wanted so many hautzen, twenty-one, I think ; 
well, we had French coin, and we did as we often had to 
do, — pull out a handful, and tell them to take what they 
pleased. We were puzzling our brains over the miserable 
Geneva currency, (quite as mysterious to a stranger as 
Geneva theology !) when a fine looking gentleman stepped 
up to us, and, in broken English, offered to examine and 
count it for us ; we of course accepted the offer, and soon 
got into conversation with him. On hearing that we were 
clergymen from America, he was greatly pleased, and gave 
us a short history of himself ; his name was Bouchet, of 
Cannes, in France, an independent minister. " I received 
my light," said he, " from the Wesleyans, some few years 
since, as did also a brother of mine ; and we are now both 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 261 

trying to preach the gospel. As there are no Wesleyans 
where I reside, I am an independent ; but," said he, " all 
mj sympathies and some of my money is with them." He 
spends his summers in Switzerland with his family, and in 
autumn returns home. To us this was a most interesting 
circumstance, and we regretted when at a little village he 
left us to meet his family. Such incidents are as an oasis 
in the desert to a traveller amono; strano-ers. 

We reached this old town in a fine rain. Our main 
object, or nearly so, was to see old Mount Blanc, but we 
were doomed to disappointment ; he had, as if to reprove 
us for not taking pains to visit him, drawn a mantle of 
clouds about his head, sending us word, like other visitors, 
that he was " not in." Visitors are often doomed to such 
disappointment, as it is but seldom that this mountain can 
be seen. But little exists here to interest one. There is a 
curiosity connected with the river Bhone, which here leaves 
the lake ; soon after its exit, it wholly disappears, sinking 
into the earth, and again reappearing after running about 
one hundred rods. There is a small church here, where 
travellers read, with surprise, this inscription, ''Deo erexit 
Voltaire. ^^ It is called Voltaire's church. 

We fully purposed to call on M. B'Aubigne, who re- 
sides here, but the rain pouring down prevented us ; this, 
we felt, was like visiting Bome without seeing the Pope ; 
but we begin to be pressed for time, and we must leave 
here early to-morrow morning, and be on our way through 
Switzerland to Germany. 



262 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

Many English reside in Greneva through the summer 
season ; but why they should select Geneva, rather than 
Lausanne, is to me a mystery ; the latter is far before the 
former in point of situation, as the scenery cannot be sur- 
passed ; society may be better in Greneva, but in no place 
which I have seen would I rather live than in Lausanne. 

We had, on board the steamer to-day, our first view of 
the German tourists. We shall meet them often, hereafter, 
no doubt. You are aware that, by a law of Germany, all 
apprentices must tramp three years, after finishing the 
term of their apprenticeship. The object is to gain a know- 
ledge of the world, and give them self-reliance. And then, 
German students are great tourists, and it must be entranc- 
ing to leave the flat and humid region of Germany and 
plunge into the sublime scenery of Switzerland. They 
travel on foot, each with a knapsack, wallet, staff, and spy- 
glass ; and while we were running down the lake, one of 
them screwed his telescope into a bench, and began his 
observations ; but the motion of the boat made his vision 
indistinct, and he gave it up. 

The views we had of the "vine clad hills" were very 
fine. Sloping down to the water's edge, hundreds of acres 
together presented a mass of beautiful foliage, while the 
peasants were busily engaged among them. 

As we neared Geneva, the view of that old city was 
fine. It lies around the foot of the lake, and gradually 
rises from the water, so as to be seen to good advantage. 
The Rhone leaves the lake here, with great velocity, so 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 263 

that the steamer, instead of gliding quietly up to a pier, 
came to an anchor in the midst of the stream. 

We put up at the Hotel Berges, and soon our expected 
friends arrived. I forgot to say that our passports were 
demanded at the pier, and carried off by an officer, but I 
shortly returned and told him that, as I was going directly 
back to Lausanne, I must have it restored to me at once. 
I got it. The petty princes and rulers in these little 
patches of earth must sit uneasily on their seats. They 
snuff treason in every breeze, and a spy is seen in every 
stranger. 

We dined at the table d'hote, a practice I advise all 
hungry travellers to avoid ; yet, as a matter of curiosity 
and amusement, it does well occasionally. One is tor- 
mented by the numerous courses ; we had here at least ten. 
When about half through, two young men and a young 
woman, with a flute and violin, walked in, and, taking their 
stand by a side table, *' discoursed most excellent music." 
They expected a few coins from each as we passed out. 

We spent a few hours, in a pouring rain, in looking over 
this old city. 

Greneva is the capital of this Canton, which contains 
sixty-five thousand inhabitants. It was annexed to France 
in the revolution of 1798, but restored to its independency 
in 1815. The city has a population of thirty-one thousand. 
Only about nineteen thousand of all the inhabitants are 
Catholics. We went into many of the jeweller's shops, to 
look at the splendid collection found there. Some curious 



264 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

specimens of art and antiquity were shown us. This is a 
noted place for the manufacture of watches and jewelry. 
Sixty thousand ounces of gold, and five thousand marks of 
silver, and precious stones to the amount of five hundred 
thousand francs, are here used in the manufacture of these 
articles, yearly. 

But Greneva is celebrated as the residence of one of the 
great men of the world, John Calvin. This great reformer 
came first to reside here in 1536, and remained here, with 
the exception of two years, until his death, in 1564. He 
was, no doubt, the master spirit in the city ; reformer and 
ruler. One can easily imagine, now, that he sees, in the 
stiffness of the manners of the people, the stern severity of 
that ruling spirit. He did a great work for Greneva and 
the world. One blot, however, rests upon his character -7- 
his agency in the burning of Servetus, who fled to Greneva 
for shelter from his foes, and found a stake I But we must 
remember those were days of blindness and bigotry. God 
can judge. 

Travellers are here tempted with numerous antiquities of 
all kinds. Cups from which kings and queens drank in 
the olden time. Swords with which some terrible battle 
was fought. And I am not sure but it was here the 
Frenchman made the slight mistake when exhibitino- his 
curiosities. " Here," said he, " ish de sword Baalim have 
when he killed de ass ! " " But," said the visitor, "he 
had none; he wished he had one." "0, vere good — 
dish is de one he wish he have ! " We spent an hour look- 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 265 

ing, not at this sword, but various curiosities in this shop. 
Two old bronze statues of Voltaire and Kosseau are kept 
here, and are said to be excellent likenesses. Some of our 
company bought a quantity of old silver ware to carry to 
the United States ; but between this place and that there 
are too many custom houses to risk much in such matters. 
We return to Lausanne to-day, and then we shall start 
for Basle. 

23 



LETTER XXVI. 



Basle, August 15, 1850. 

Fkiend S : 

The most economical and pleasant mode of travelling 
tbrougli Switzerland is by private carriage, where there is a 
company of four, or more. You command your time ; 
you can stop when and where you please ; you can turn 
aside to visit a ruin, or pause awhile in a city or town, 
without being rated soundly by the impudent drivers of the 
diligence. At Lausanne we engaged a guide to go with 
us to Basle, agreeing to pay him five francs a day, and his 
fare back to L. ; and a right clever fellow was Louis. I 
think he has another name, but know not what it is. He 
will be found, if living, at the Hotel Faucon, in Lausanne. 
Louis spoke good American, and then he was fluent in 
French and German. He had travelled a year with an 
American family from New York, and was well acquainted 
with Yankee peculiarities. He took the whole care of our 
baggage, and our arrangements at the various hotels ; so 
266 



KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 267 

that for the first, and probably the last time, we tasted the 
luxury of a live lord with his servants at his beck. Our 
first business was to procure a team to convey us to Basle, 
distant one hundred and thirty miles, though the spunging 
voiturin averred it to be one hundred and fifty. We took 
Louis, and went to find a good voiture in which to make 
our journey. The owner said he would send us through 
for twenty francs per day, and six francs for the driver. I 
counselled the company not to close the bargain until we 
had consulted our landlord, who was au fait in such mat- 
ters. I went to our hotel and informed the landlord of the 
price charged, and asked if it was the usual rate ? "0," 
said he, "did he say for one horse, or two?" "Of 
course," said I, "we are to have two horses, as it is a 
double carriage." "Yah, yah," said the good natured Ger- 
man, "but did he say he should charge twenty francs a day 
for the other horse, mynheer? " "Why, no," said I; "of 
course, he intended to put us through for twenty francs per 
day, for the team." " For one horse, mynheer, and then 
he will charge you twenty francs for the other ! ' ' That was 
out-yankeeing a Yankee ; and I ran back to the stable, 
where our company were looking at a carriage, and told Louis 
to put this question to the voiturin, "Do you charge twenty 
francs for both your horses, or for one alone ? " My com- 
panions laughed at the idea as absurd ; but there were some 
long faces when Louis informed us that it would be forty 
francs 'per day, and the bonus of six to the cocker. This 
was a new feature in the business of horse letting ! I had 



268 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

heard of the Irish gentleman, who said he would buy one 
spur, and make one side of his nag gallop, and the other 
side would have to keep up, but I had not before seen the 
man who let one horse to do the work, and sent another to 
bear him company, charging for the companionship ! I 
told the fellow that he need not send the second horse ; he 
could send one, and put us through for twenty francs per 
day ; but that would not do. I told the company to leave 
him, for our landlord had informed me of another mode of 
conveyance. A carriage had arrived the night before with 
a family from Zurich, and was to return the day following, 
and the owner would be glad to take us to Basle, which 
would be not far out of his course. We struck a bargain 
with the cocher for twenty francs per day for both horses, 
and six francs bonus, he to eat his own team and himself, 
and take Louis as an interpreter. 

We started on the morning following our bargain, with 
the whole arrangement and agreement written out in full 
by our kind host ; we were to dine the first day at Pay- 
erne, and sleep at Frihurg, and so on ; all was specified 
throughout our journey. We made rather a long pause at 
our first stopping place, as one of our carriage wheels 
wanted a spoke. Louis informed us that a great curiosity 
was to be seen here ; and so, after dinner, (which, by the 
way, was very good, inasmuch as we had a pudding made 
of our old acquaintance, Indian corn meal,) we started to 
see it. We went to the church, an old and antiquated 
building, and lo, hanging upon the wall of the church were 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 269 

the ruins of an old saddle ! Some pieces of v70od strapped 
with iron ; the leather, or whatever covered it, all gone. 
Was it the saddle which Alexander strapped to the back of 
Bucephalus ? Or that upon which Caesar crossed the Ru- 
bicon ? Or that which pressed the bones of Don Quixote's 
Rosinante ? Louis said it belonged to Bertha, Queen of 
Burgundy ; and that Bertha lies buried in this church. 
But who she was, or when she lived, or how and when she 
died, we could not tell ; our guide could not tell. When 
I return, I shall endeavor to hunt up the history of the 
queen who rode on a gentleman's saddle, and, it is said, 
spun Jlax as she rode. 

The country which we passed from Lausanne to Friburg 
reminded us of home more strongly than any place which 
we have yet seen. Unlike England, you are here con- 
stantly passing neat farm houses, and the soil seems to 
rejoice in the presence of its tiller. Tobacco is seen grow- 
ing here, and now and then a patch of Indian corn, as an 
experiment. Our road was a fine, macadamized way, and 
smooth as a floor. We travelled through a fine valley for 
nearly the whole day, densely populated and prosperous. 
I had read much of Swiss cottages, and my beau ideal of a 
country residence was such a cottage. But much of the 
poetry of this, as of other matters, disappeared by a nearer 
approach. 

'"T is distance lends enchantment to the view." 

You will sometimes see a cottage by itself, but seldom. 
23* 



270 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

The most of the farm houses are large stone buildings, with 
a steep roof, covered with tile of hurnt clay, the eaves pro- 
jecting some five or six feet, and coming down near the 
ground. The apartment for the family is in one end, and 
the place for hay and grain, and the stalls for the cattle, in 
the other ! All under the same roof and within the same 
walls. Seldom do we see a flower garden in front, but 
always an immense stack of compost directly in front of 
the house. This is always there, in the process of fer- 
mentation, and fast as it is ready for use it is cut off, 
and more put in its place. But even this pile is taste- 
fully arranged. A layer of straw, and then substance for 
fermentation laid upon that, and the straw bent up over it, 
and so on, until it looks like a mass of ground apples on 
the press ready for pressing. A trench is dug around it, 
into which the water runs, and this is dipped up and poured 
upon the top. Our farmers might learn many important 
lessons from these Swiss farmers. 

These cottages are neat in their external appearance, but 
the interior calls loudly for a housewife ! The women are 
in the field, with the men, at work, and when they come in 
they haste to prepare the meal and then are off again. 
There is no part of farm labor which is not shared by the 
women. I heard a terrible clatter in a large barn, near 
where we stopped to bait our horses, and, walking up to 
ascertain the cause, I found three women and two men 
threshing on the same floor. You see them reaping, mow- 
ing, ploughing — with that unie[ue plough on two wheels, 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 271 

and drawn Tbj two cows — gathering compost in the road ; 
to all sorts of drudgery are Eve's unhappy daughters suh- 
jected. And yet, they appear happy, as they certainly are 
healthy. 

In one little village, where we stopped to breathe our 
weary animals, we turned aside to see the remains of an 
old castle, or circular tower, of a very ancient date, as no 
one here knows when or by whom it was built. The 
stones of which it is constructed are finely set in cement, 
and it may stand yet, after battling the elements for centu- 
ries, until the final doom. 

It is to us a thrilling thought, that through this valley, 
and, perhaps, upon the same road we are travelling, Koman 
armies have often marched. Some remains of an old 
Roman road are somewhere to be seen in this valley, but 
we had not time to look for them. Primitive times and 
customs are constantly brought vividly before the traveller 
in these old countries. In nearly every village you see a 
fountain of pure water. A large tank receives the spout- 
ing stream, and this is common property. The inhabitants 
come to this reservoir for water. Scores of young women, 
with a vessel something like a large churn, but flattened, 
and with straps for the shoulders, come to the fountain, fill 
their vessel, sling and bear it off. Others bring tubs, 
which they fill and help each other to lift to the top of the 
head, and then march off laughing and chatting in their 
glee. One thinks of Rebekah — " and she said, Drink, 



272 EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

my lord ; and she hasted and let down her -pitcher upon her 
hand, and gave him drink." 

We ascended quite an elevation as we left the vale of 
Payerne, from which we had a grand view of the Alpine 
and Jura mountain ranges. But darkness was upon us 
ere we came in sight of our resting place, the old town of 
Friburg. 

We now for the first time passed a grim old gateway, 
guarded by sentries, and found ourselves in a walled town. 
We drove into the court-yard of the Hotel de ZahringueUj 
took supper and beds. 

I think I have not remarked to you how exceedingly 
refreshing, after a hard day's labor, is the beverage which 

" Cheers, but not inebriates." 

Calling for supper at a hotel in Switzerland, the waiter 
soon bears in the urn of water boiling over a spirit lamp. 
He brings also a neat little tea-pot, and two cups contain- 
ing black and green tea. You take either, or both, mixing 
them, draw the hot water upon it, place it on the top of the 

" bubbling and loud-hissing urn," 

which 

" Throws up a steamy column," 

and in a few moments you have a cup of tea which a 
Chinese philosopher would smile over. Such fragrance, 



KAMBLES IN EUKOPE. 273 

such aroma, and then it is hot ; not the lukewarm, wishy- 
washy liquid we often find at home. 

We started out early in the morning to look at the town. 
The Saane, a small but rapid stream, flows down a deep 
gorge, some two hundred feet in depth. And over this is 
thrown a beautiful wire suspension bridge, which our land- 
lord informed us was eight hundred and thirty-four feet in 
length, and one hundred and forty-five feet above the 
water. It is a grand structure, and makes a fine appear- 
ance. The town is a picturesque place, surrounded as it 
is by lofty mountains. The population is nine thousand 
two hundred, — mostly Catholics. This is the seat of 
the Catholic bishop of Lausanne, and a college of Jesuits 
is established here. A fine old gothic cathedral is here, 
with a steeple running up to the height of three hundred 
and sixty-five feet ! The most splendid organ in Switzer- 
land, and second only to the Harlem organ, is in this 
cathedral. Travellers almost invariably stop to hear it 
played. It has sixty-four registers, and seven thousand 
eight hundred pipes. The charge for playing is ten or 
twelve francs. As it was some great saint's day, and we 
could not hear it before eleven o'clock, we concluded to 
leave, and hear it the next time we visit Friburg. 

On our way to this Canton (Friburg) we were informed 
of the change from a Lutheran to a Catholic Canton, by a 
huge cross by the way-side. Crosses, and images of saints 
and angels, multiplied as we came on ; and on visiting the 



274 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

churcli of St. Nicholas we were surrounded again with 
images, and all the biWj and debasing paraphernalia of 
Catholicism. 

We left in the morning for Berne, after a slight set-to 
with an Italian postilion, who was taking an English 
mi-lord somewhere. He had got his team harnessed first, 
and with the carriage, four horses, and enormous long rope 
traces, he took up the whole yard. Our team was got 
ready, and we were ready, but he would not move his 
team an inch to let us pass. Louis could not speak Italian, 
and the Italian could not understand English, Dutch, or 
French. The fellow knew well enough what we wanted, 
but he was as ugly as a drunken Italian can be. After our 
driver and Louis had labored long enough, without making 
any impression, I took his leaders by the bit and gave 
them a start ; he threatened, but just then the gentleman 
made his appearance, and ordered the puppy to move his 
carriage, and we passed out. 

Our ride the second day was over a tract of land so 
home-like as gave us something of a yearning for that 
place. Hills, and dales, and immense forests, looking so 
like the forests of America ! And then, as we would 
reach some elevated point, the Alps — cold, white, cheer- 
less, and silent — loomed up in the distance. The grand, 
enow covered peaks of the mountains called ''Jung 
Frau^^ or "Young Wife," came into view on our right, 
and we occasionally had fine views of them nearly all the 
way to the Rhine. At twelve o'clock we rolled through 



i 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 275 

another immense stone gateway, and were within the walls 
of the old city of Berne, in the Canton of that name, 
where we dined, and spent some honrs in seeing the 
curiosities of the place. 

At two o'clock we went to see the great clock strike. 
This is an imitation of the one at Strasburg. It is an old 
tower over one of the gates, and it may be hundreds of 
years old. We found people gathering in the street some 
time before the striking. Looking up to the tower you 
see a group of figures. On the left a decent looking coch 
stands demurely looking down upon the pavements. On 
the right, an old man, whom you at once recognize as an 
old acquaintance — Father Time ; in his hand an hour 
glass ; over his head a recess. In the belfry, a quaintly 
dressed man, with his back towards you, and his right hand 
resting upon a huge mallet, with which he would undoubt- 
edly be tempted to strike somebody, should they incau- 
tiously intrude upon his privacy when 2^ jit is on him, which 
comes on hourly. It is quarter before two, and we sit 
down upon a stone bench and wait. Our eyes are upon 
the dial. Five minutes to two, and old Chanticleer flaps 
his wings, and 

" Crows so loud and clear " 

that the echo comes back to you from the old grey turrets of 
the Minster, close by. Father Time raises his hour glass, 
and gives it a solemn shake, as if to say, "going! " Three 



276 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

minutes to two, and another shrill crow and a shake of the 
wings from the " old bird." Again the old monitor raises 
his glass and says, '' going, going. ''^ Two mortal long 
minutes pass, and your excitement becomes painful ! One 
of the beautiful "■ winged hours " is struggling with death ! 
You can almost hear the mortal strife ; was that a shriek ? 
No ; the faithful monitor has filled his pipes, and pours out 
his tJiitd and last admonition. Time slowly raises his 
glass, and, as it falls, says, ''gone! " And the man in the 
tower grasps and raises his hammer, and bestows two tre- 
mendous thumps upon the old bell, which rings out sol- 
emnly its response. But look at the recess — out files a 
procession of men in black, bearing something ; they 
march round a little platform, and disappear ! I suppose 
they were going to bury the poor hour which had just 
expired ! 

Our excitement "fell off a point or so," as a seaman 
would say, and we departed, wondering at the skill and 
patience of the genius who built " the old clock of Berne." 

We observed, as we entered the city, two grim looking 
hears, cut in stone, on either side of the gate. On walk- 
ing round the squares, and visiting the public places, we 
met them in great numbers. The arms of the Canton 
hear the device of the Bear ! The very name of the Can- 
ton signifies hear! And then, we learned that some 
aristocratic hears are kept, at the public expense, a short 
distance from the city. The secret of this universal idol- 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 2T7 

izing of Bruin seems to be, that wben the first stone of this 
city was laid, some one thousand years since, a bear was 
slain on its site. 

This city was founded in 1191 by Berthold Y., of 
Zeirengen, a mighty Duke, chosen as leader by some of 
the Swiss clans, then in their infancy. The site of the 
city is peculiar ; it exactly resembles an ox-bow. The 
banks, washed by the river Aar, which rushes down from, 
the Alpine region, are a hundred feet in height. Upon 
the shore of the river on one side, a street runs, and, stand- 
ing in one of the public squares, you look down more than a 
hundred feet upon the tops of the houses. All around the 
city, on all the heights, are ruins of castles of the old 
nobles. In a ride of twenty miles we passed j^«;e of these 
ruins. These were built in times of great political dis- 
order. Every man did, not "what was right in his own 
eyes," but what he chose. These castles were like nests 
of birds of prey. The traveller was waylaid and robbed 
without pity or redress. It was at this period, also, that 
all the principal towns were walled. The wall around this 
old city was built in 1191, by one Cuno of Bubenburg, at 
the command of Berthold. Since that time, the walls 
have been extended as the population increased. It now 
contains twenty-four thousand inhabitants, the majority of 
whom are Lutherans, or Reformists. 

These old walls have withstood many a siege, and wit- 
nessed many chivalric exploits. But it is emphatically a 
24 



278 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

" strong-liold ; " with water and such banks on three sides, 
it could not be very successfully attacked. 

On one of the public squares, and near the great 
minster, stands a splendid bronze equestrian statue of 
Mudolph of Erlach. I did not see a statue in England 
or France so life-like. The service which he rendered the 
Bernese, and for which he is thus remembered in " ever- 
during brass," was the deliverance of the town from de- 
struction by the ^' nohility^^ of Burgundy, the Dukes of 
Austria, and sanctioned by the Emperor of Grermany. 
Seme was prosperous, powerful, and democratic. The 
aristocracy were jealous of her, and determined to crush 
her. This combination took place about one hundred and 
fifty years after the founding of the city. Fifteen thou- 
sand foot and three thousand horse, led by one thousand 
two hundred knights in complete steel armor, and seven 
hundred barons "with crowned helmets." Resolved to 
leave 7io life in Berne, the account says, they marched 
upon the devoted city. Soleure and Berne were in league. 
Lupen, a little town in the Canton, was first threatened, 
and the Bernese decreed, " that if any father had two 
sons, or if in any house there were two brothers, one of 
them should march to the relief of Lupen." This 
Budolph Erlach, a noble, was elected generalissimo. He 
mounted his good charger, whose likeness is before us, in 
brass, put himself at the head of the resolute Swiss, and 
cried out, " Where be now those gallant youths who were 
wont to bid defiance to the enemy in their revels at Berne, 



RAMBLES FN EUROPE. 279 

adorned with flowers and feathers ? The honor of your 
town is now in your hands — follow her banner — follow 
Erlach ! " When some of his men at first fled, he cried 
out, ''My friends, we shall now conquer, for the chaflf is 
threshed from the corn ! " The victory was complete. 
We shall see some of the spoils at Soleure. Erlach lived 
in that old castle, the ruins of which you see on the moun- 
tain yonder. His sword hung on the wall. One of his 
sons-in-law visited him here one day ; they got into a dis- 
pute, when the young man seized the old man's sword, and 
struck down the old hero at a blow. How few men of 
blood die peacefully in their beds ! " They that take the 
sword, shall perish by the sword." 

It is a curious fact that, in the last battle fought by the 
Swiss with the French troops, in 1798, for the maintenance 
of their league, the Swiss troops were led by General 
Erlach, a descendant of Rudolph, and that he was slain by 
his own troops after their defeat and the fall of Berne into 
the enemies' hands. 

On the principal streets are rows of arcades ; stone or 
brick columns rise from the curb-stone to the height of the 
first story, and a succession of arches turned from one to 
another, and upon these the second story of the building 
rests. 

The side-walks, consequently, are sheltered from the 
weather. The shops, which display a rich assortment of 
goods, open into these arcades. 

We see now for the first time cases of that strange dis- 



280 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

ease called goitre, a terrible swelling of the neck. It is 
said, it is caused by drinking the cold ice-water of these 
Alpine streams, flowing from the everlasting snows and 
glaciers of that desolate region. We visited the great 
church, or minster, which was built by the architects 
Mathias Heintz, son of the celebrated architect who built 
the dome of Strasburgh ; Oensinger, father and son, 
Stephen Abrugger, and many others. 

On the same spot stood in former times for nearly a 
space of two hundred years a small wooden church, the 
construction of which falls into the fortieth year after the 
foundation of Berne. 

The construction of the Minster was begun in the year 
1421, and finished in 1573. The length of the church 
from the great western entrance to the end of the choir is 
two hundred and sixty-three Bernese feet, old measure ; the 
breadth one hundred and eight feet, and seventy-two feet 
in height to the vault. The steeple, as far as the watch- 
man's lodging, has two hundred and twenty-three steps, 
and farther up to the roofing, forty-five steps more, so that 
the height amounts in all to two hundred and twenty feet. 
The chief ornament is the great W. portal, bearing sculp- 
tured reliefs of the Last Judgment, flanked by figures of 
the wise and foolish Virgins, etc. They were executed 
by Nicholas Kung of Berne.* 

* There exists a very exact and fine lithography of these orna- 
ments, which may be had at its publisher's, J. C. Wyttenbach, 
sexton of the Cathedral. 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 281 



THE NAVE. 

The coats of arms painted on the key-stones of the 
arches and in the windows are those of the most dis- 
tinguished Bernese families, of which some have become 
extinct, and others are still flourishing, who liberally con- 
tributed toward the expenses of the erection of the church. 

The great organ was constructed in the year 1727- 
1737, by Amadeus Leuw, and its ornaments were 
executed by the celebrated carver Nahl, and had three 
rows of keys, and forty-four stops. 

It was entirely renovated and enlarged in the year 
1847-1849 by the organ builder Haas, and now contains 
four rows of keys, together with sixty-six stops. 

The font of black granite of 1525, (three years 
before the Bernese church reformation,) on which are 
represented the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary, St. 
Vincent, the tutelar Saint of the church, and the four 
Evangelists. 

The large communion-table of marble, brought to 
Berne in the year 1563 from the Episcopal church of 
Lausanne, where, before the reformation, it was used as an 
altar. •' 

The monument of his Excellency the chief magis- 
trate, avoyer de Steiger, knight of the Prussian orders 
of the Black and Bed Eagle. He died an exile at Augs- 
burgh in the year 1799, and his remains were removed 
hither in 1805. 

24* 



282 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

Close by, and on eacli side of this monument, are six 
tablets of black marble, bearing the names of Greneral C. 
L. d'Erlach, eighteen officers, and six hundred and eighty- 
three subaltern-officers and soldiers, who fell fighting 
against the French, 1798. 

The monument of Berthold of Zahringen, fifth and 
last Duke of that name, descended from the house of 
Hapsburgh, founder of Berne, in the year 1191. 

THE CHOIR. 

The old prebendary stalls, above which are seen the 
busts of our Saviour and his Apostles, and on the opposite 
side those of the most celebrated Prophets, in carved work, 
executed by Rusch and Seewaagen, A. D. 1523. 

Four of the windows are entirely filled with stained 
glass, executed towards the end of the fifteenth century, 
by Frederick Walther, one of the ancestors of the families 
of the same name, that still exist at Berne. 

They represent various sacred subjects : — 

The first, on the left of the spectator, represents, in the 
upper part on the extreme left, Moses making water spring 
from the rock: and below, the remarkable legend of a 
Pope, throwing with a miller's shovel into a water-mill the 
four Evangelists, under their respective symbols of the 
Angel, Lion, Ox, and Eagle, who, to the amazement of all 
present, re -appear under the form of consecrated wafers, 
bearing the image of the infant Jesus. They are gathered 
into a chalice by a bishop, and other priests distribute 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 283 

them to the wondering multitude. Near the Evangelists is 
the inscription : " Hoc est corpus meum," (this is my 
body.) 

The second represents the adoration of the Magi : ahove 
the semi-circle, they are seen presenting themselves before 
Herod, who appears much dismayed on hearing by them of 
the birth of Jesus Christ ; still higher, above the bridge, 
is the retinue of the three Kings. 

In the third is represented the life of our Saviour, from 
the Annunciation to the Resurrection. 

In the fourth is the agony in the garden, our Saviour 
led to execution and his crucifixion, as well as the per- 
secution of the first Christians. 

The fifth and sixth were, in 1770, shattered to pieces by 
a hail-storm. 

Louis called us from our wanderings, and we started for 
Soleure, our second place of rest. 

The distance from Berne to Soleure is but twenty miles, 
and the road ran through a fertile and really beautiful 
region. The fields are laid out with great regularity, but 
the lines were marked by no visible signs, no fences, walls, 
or hedges. We saw no pastures, and no cattle, except 
occasionally a flock of goats watched by a lad. We were 
puzzled to know where the cattle were kept, until, at one 
of our stopping places, I went into a barn, or stable, and 
there I found ten of the finest cows I ever saw ; large, 
well formed, and fat as any cattle ever prepared for 



284 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

market. We had noticed, all along the way, patches of 
clover, some of which had been lately cut. The mystery 
was explained. Except in the hilly region, the cattle are 
kept by the process called ^^ soiling ^^^ that is, kept up and 
fed on green clover. They are out of the sun, free from the 
annoyance of flies, and do not run off their flesh. A cow- 
herd is employed, whose sole employment is the care of the 
cattle. We saw no oxen^ the cows among the Glermans 
doing the farm work, either one alone, or in pairs. And 
here we saw them working in harness, like the horse, and 
not in a yoke, or with a stick laid on the top of the head 
and confined to the horns. 

We find here the sweetest of butter and honey in 
abundance ; it is a land of ** milk and honey." The 
butter is set before you fresh from the churn, and you ipix 
with salt to your taste. 

Our way led us through a beautiful valley, with high 
mountain ranges on either hand ; and on the highest, and 
apparently most inaccessible peaks, you see perched the 
ruin of some old castle, all desolate and all forsaken. 

We passed through a gorge or notch in the Jura chain 
of mountains, which was nearly as sublime and quite as 
remarkable as the celebrated ''notch of the White Moun- 
tains" in New Hampshire. The chain seemed rent on 
purpose to let the little meandering stream pass to the 
ocean. For hundreds of feet the naked rock rose per- 
pendicularly on either hand, while up in the clouds was 
seen an old castle, whose ruined battlements frowned impo- 



KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 285 

tently upon us; like Bunyan's giant Pope, who was "grown 
so crazy and stiff in his joints, that he could do little more 
than sit in his cavers mouth, grinning at pilgrims as they 
go by, and biting his ?iails because he cannot come at 
them," A few centuries since, and we should have heard 
the tucket signal, and then, if we had not " drawn rein " 
instanter, a stone from a " catapult " would have come 
thundering down upon our steel helmets ; but we went 
through on the 14th of August, 1850 ! and were not even 
invited up to take a ' ' stoup of wine ! ' ' 

At 8 o'clock, P. M., we passed the massive gates of 
Soleure, and drove up to the " Hotel du Corronne." 

This is the capital of the Canton of Soleure, and situ- 
ated on the river Aar, whose course we have followed from 
Seme. 

Soleure is a corruption of St. Ours. The present walls 
and fortifications around this town required sixty years for 
their completion. It is a rich old place in the historic 
incidents it has engraved upon its walls and impressed 
upon its surrounding scenery. Kosciusko, a name dear to 
an American, spent the last years of his life here. 

The population is four thousand six hundred, all Cath- 
olics and speaking Grerman. It contains three churches 
and five convents ! The records say it joined the great 
Helvetic confederacy in 1481. 

Like all the principal Swiss towns, it has often been 
besieged and beleagured by that power more hated in 
Switzerland and Germany than the old deceiver himself, 



286 RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

namely, Austria! Duke Leopold, in 1820, laid siege to 
this city for ten weeks. The inhabitants of Berne came to 
the assistance of Soleure, and held the Austrian at bay. 
The hard-hearted villian threatened old Hugo, who com- 
manded the garrison, with the slaughter of his son, who 
was a prisoner, unless he opened the gates. " Slay away, 
villian," said both father and son. A bridge was thrown 
across the Aar, just above the town, to cut off supplies and 
starve them to terms. The stream rose by heavy rains, and 
a company of soldiers were stationed upon it with a mass 
of stones to prevent its being swept away. The bridge 
broke down under the pressure, and Leopold's soldiers 
were hurled into the wild river. The men of Soleure, for- 
getting their animosities, plunged into the stream and 
brought them out, and sent them back to the camp without 
a ransom ! The Duke was melted by this generosity, and 
requested entrance into the town with thirty knights only ; 
he presented the hurghers with a hanner, and concluded 
with the city an honorable peace. The hanner is still pre- 
served, among many other curiosities, in the arsenal, to 
which we will go directly. 

There is here a church built in exact imitation of St. 
Peter''s at Rome, so that we saw that wonder without 
crossing the Alps. It is small but beautiful. The marble 
altar pieces, and the paintings, are fine. A religious ser- 
vice was held in the morning, which was attended by but a 
few. 

We got permission to visit the Arsenal, which is one of 



KAMBLES IN EUKOPE. 287 

the greatest curiosities we have seen. The usual course is 
for travellers to turn off from Berne, and go to Zurich, 
but they lose much of interest unless they return and 
take this place in their route. The lower part of the 
building, which is not at all imposing, is filled with 
artillery, with all its fixings, of carriages, tumbrils, cais- 
sons, lint-stocks, harness, and all the horrid enginery of 
destruction. This belongs to the Canton. We passed up 
stairs, and as I entered the guide fell behind me ; I saw 
standing before me a soldier in the uniform of the Canton, 
with his musket at the shoulder, and erect as a Prussian. 
I instinctively and with gravity raised my hand to my 
chapeau, when instantly he presented arms, carried arms 
again, brought his left hand down with a slap upon his leg, 
turned his head " eyes right," ih^n front, making a grand 
salute ! I think I was a little pale I The rogue of a con- 
ductor had fallen back, and touched a spring, when this 
automaton sentry went through these military movements 
in fine style. The large hall in which we now stood 
seemed full of old steel-clad hnights, all arranged in 
marching order. Here were seven hundred suits of steel 
armor ! a collection much greater than that in the Tower of 
London. What giants those old Swifzers and Bavarians 
must have been. Here were suits of armor for men over 
seven feet high ! and so large, that I could have moved 
about in them, not with them, with great ease. I took an 
old iron helmet from the floor, and endeavored to put my 
little head into it ; and my first attempt was a failure ! It 



288 RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

was as much as I could do to raise it as high as my head, 
which I at last accomplished. But how could a man move 
about in such armor ? What a weight for a horse to sus- 
tain and carry to the charge ; - a man of two hundred and 
fifty pounds, and such a mass of steel, with his own trap- 
pings ! After seeing such armor, one can easily imagine 
how a knight unhorsed was unable to help himself at all ; 
he was at the mercy of his assailants. 

Here were suits of armor taken from enemies at various 
times ; old blood-stained banners, and broken spears ; 
huge two-handed swords, five and six feet in length, and 
which required as much strength to wield as a large broad- 
axe. Battle-axes, which had rained storms of blows upon 
those old helmets until their edges were battered and 
broken. Some of these old instruments of death were 
taken from the field of Lupen, where the inhabitants of 
this town, with the Bernese, overthrew one thousand two 
hundred knights in steel, nearly all of whom were slain. 

Turning now to a corner of the room we see a fine repre- 
sentation of the formation of the Helvetic League^ or 
Swiss Confederation. Some ten or a dozen figures in the 
old Swiss costume are seated in a circle, while one of them 
is in the act of taking the oath, administered by a priest. 
The old banner of the league waves over them. The 
effect is fine ; you almost expect to hear them speak. This 
league continued for five hundred years, until destroyed in 
1798 by the armies of Repuhlican France ! 

We left Soleure, and drove on to the Rhine. We had 



RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 289 

spent the forenoon at Soleure, and lingered to gaze upon 
crumbling ruins ; and spent sometime in the small villages ; 
so that it was almost dark when I discovered, from the box 
where I was sitting with the driver, the bright surface of a 
river away in the vale below us ; it was the Rhine ! I saw 
it at last ! I had read of it, heard of it, dreamed of it ; and 
now it is before me in the starlight, calmly flowing on to its 
ocean union, as undisturbed as if its banks had never been 
crowded with embattled hosts, or shaken by the thunder of 
cannon, or its blue, cold waves tinged with the life blood 
of millions of slaughtered men. On it flows, 

" Through banks whose beauty would endure for ever, 
Could man but leave thy bright creation so ; 
Nor its fair promise from thy surface mow 
"With the sharp scythe of conflict." 

" A thousand battles have assailed thy banks — 
But these and half their fame hath passed away ; 
And slaughter heaped on high his sweltering ranks ; 
Their very graves are gone, and what are they ? 
Thy tide washed down the blood of yesterday, 
And all was stainless, and on thy clear stream 
Glassed with its dancing light the sunny ray ; 
But o'er the blackened memory's blighting dream 
Thy waves would vainly roll, all sweeping as they seem." 

We rolled over the Rhine on a stone bridge, into the 
court-yard of the '' Hotel de la Cigogne," took a supper of 
beef-steak, after one failure through our mistake in not 
25 



290 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

adding to our order for beef-steak " a la Anglais," and 
sleep came so sound that our poetry was dissipated. 

We took a few hours to look at this old city, and then 
we are off for Baden-Baden, where we intend spending the 
Sabbath. 

The city of Bale, or Basle, enjoys a world-wide noto- 
riety for its connection with the Reformation. It early 
became a Protestant city by throwing off the Papal yoke 
and asserting and maintaining its freedom. In reading 
D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation, you are constantly 
referred to Basle. Such and su^ch noble men were horn 
there, or educated there, or preached there, or died there. 
Basle has the honor of establishing the first university in 
Switzerland, in 1460. At that time ignorance was a 
virtue, and the power to read considered little short .of 
miraculous. Monks, priests, and friars were illiterate as 
boors. A Grerman monk, in preaching and guarding his 
audience against the new heresy of learning, said : "A 
language has been lately invented called Greek; this 
Greek is the mother of all schisms ; and in it a book hath 
been written, called the New Testament, and in which are 
many perilous passages. Another language also hath 
arisen, which is Hebrew ; whosoever learns the same 
becomes a Jeiv.^^ 

The science of music was almost lost, and Basle made 
an effort to revive it. Basle early received the pure 
gospel, and cleansed her churches from idols. One of the 
Pope's legates having audaciously affixed the bull of ex- 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 291 

communication against the Emperor Louis, tlie people of 
Basle seized him, and drowned him in the Rhine. Such 
, was their independence and opposition to Papal sway. In 
this city Zwingle was educated, and commenced preaching 
the gospel ; and here Erasmus lived, and died, and was 
huried, and his tomb remains unto this day. Learned far 
beyond his age, he did much for letters, but nothing for 
religion. One can hardly forgive him, standing by his 
tomb, for his time-serving and timid spirit. He knew 
Luther was right, yet wanted the courage to say so. Rest, 
rest, Erasmus ! I am not thy judge. 

These old walls around me served as a refuge to many a 
poor, persecuted servant of Christ, who obeyed that com- 
mand, " when they persecute you in one city, flee to 
another." Both Calvin and Arminius sought sanctuary 
here. Basle is to G-ermany and Switzerland what Boston 
and New York are in the States — a great centre of 
evangelical operations ; and her efforts are felt to a great 
distance. 

There is here a seminary for the education of mission- 
aries, which has sent at least one hundred and fifty to all 
parts of the world. We may yet feel the good influence 
of this society on our great and increasing Grerman 
population. 

It is something, my friend, to walk upon stones which 
have been pressed by the feet of such men as Erasmus, Cal- 
vin, Luther, Zwingle, Melancthon, Ecolampadius, and Ar- 
minius ! It is almost like walkino; the streets of Jerusalem ! 



292 EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

Bftsle coEtains twenty-three thousand inhabitants. The 
only proper bridge which crosses the Rhine, we are 
informed, is here ; all the rest being bridges of boats. 

Our stay here was short, but pleasant ; and now, good 
night. You will hear from me next at Frankfort-on-the- 
Mayne. 



LETTER XXYII. 



Baben-Baden, August 20, 1850. 
Fkiend S : 

We settled witli our postilion and guide, and bade adieu 
to Basle and Switzerland, probably for ever. We were 
lotb to part with poor Louis, as we had become quite 
attached to him. We took that worst kind of a convey- 
ance for a traveller who wishes to see a country, namely — 
a railroad. We had to crowd into coaches for about three 
miles, until we reached the boundary of the Canton and of 
Switzerland, and came to Grermany. But here was no 
natural boundary — no mountain range, or rolling ocean — 
nothing but a stake and a custom house. 

And now commenced a continental overhauling. A 
large number of passengers were on their way to Baden ; 
it rained, and was dark and cheerless. The cars would not 
wait. But one may as well take all this coolly as in heat. 
Trunks, bags, boxes, hat-cases, and reticules, were tumbled 
into the examining room ; and the sober-faced Grerman 
25* 293 ' . 



294 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

inspectors commenced their work. Happy those, like 
myself, who had only a little bag ! But the large trunks 
had a thorough exploration ; and such confusion as was 
made of the ladies' wardrobes ! I trembled for one of our 
company, friend M , of New York. He was a thor- 
ough antiquarian ; and when he saw certain old silver and 
washed divWoiQB in Geneva, he " coveted them," and bought 
some hundreds of francs in value. They were mostly 
ancient plated articles. The lynx-eyed custom house 
officers discovered the box, knocked off the top, and lo, a 
prize ! Silver ware ! The scales were brought, and it was 
weighed — while our poor antiquarian assured them it was 
" non siller ; " but they could not understand such lingo. 
The passengers got out of all patience — some swore, some 
laughed, some assumed the virtue oi patience, while we all 
had to maJce a virtue of necessity ; for who can hurry a 
Grerman? Our antiquarian had, as a last resort, to take 
his knife and cut through the plate, and exhibit to the eyes 
of the disappointed officials the bright copper. Their 
visions of gain vanished ! the duties were paid, and we 
mounted again. But, alas, I, in my zeal to assist my 
friend, lost my hat, and did not miss it until I was on top 
of the coach. The driver waited for us until I found it, 
and we drove out of the shed into Germany and the rain. 
We soon came to the station, and now we go through 
another process, that of weighing the baggage. You are 
not allowed to carry any thing in the shape of luggage, not 
a pound, without paying for it. Blank astonishment seizes 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 295 

many a green Englishman, or Yankee, on finding that the 
cost of the transportation of the immense trunks which 
madam said she must carry, is as much, nearly, as the fare 
of the persons themselves. No use to remonstrate ; the 
weigher shrugs his shoulders and says, " Yah, yah ! " You 
need not go ; you can stay behind. I found the great con- 
venience of having but one hag, which I could carry any 
where. 

Loitering about the station were a number of Prussian 
soldiers. The abortive effort at revolutionizing Grermany, 
you know, is but just passed. You can almost smell gun- 
powder yet. Austria and Prussia have taken Grermany 
under their special protection. German soldiers are taken 
off to Prussia and Austria, to keep their subjects in subjec- 
tion, while Prussian and Austrian soldiers fill all Grermany, 
like a cloud of locusts. We are told we shall meet them 
every where. They are all young men, well formed and 
active. The uniform is blue, "turned up" with white — 
something like the United States infantry dress. They are 
detested by the Germans ; but these poor, oppressed people 
may think, but they must say, 

" Break my heart, but I must hold my tongue." 

A rigid system of espionage has been established all over 
Germany ; and the words ' ' whispered in the ear in closets, 
are proclaimed upon the house-top." Of course, the utmost 
degree of ill-will prevails among the people against the 
soldiers, and quarrels are frequent. This state of things 



296 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

cannot long continue. I am more and more convinced 
that the American revolution was the most powerful homily 
ever read to tyrants on this earth. The echoes of its thun- 
der-tones are still rolling over Europe. And we are not 
surprised that crowned heads, and the " will o' the wisps *^ 
which float around them, detest Republican America. She 
has demonstrated to the world that there can be a flourish- 
ing " state without a king." That intelligence and virtue 
are better preservatives than polished steel. And that an 
intelligent people can govern themselves, much better than 
a half-witted thing with a crown on its head. 

The German people are a reading, and, consequently, an 
intelligent people ; and but for their disunion, Austria and 
Prussia might attend to their affairs at home, and leave 
their neiofhbors to manage themselves. 

One of the saddest reflections of all is, that such a mass 
of young men should be drawn from the useful and honor- 
able pursuits of life, to carry a musket, to form habits of 
indolence and vice. By a law of Grermany, every young 
man, whoever he be, is obliged to serve three years in the 
army : thus the nation is a nation of soldiers, and, inured 
to the trade, war will be a delight, rather than a fearful 
evil and a crime. Appeals will be made to the sword, not 
to reason. 

Our course, the first day, was down the Rhine, which 
here runs due north, and through the Duchy of Baden. 
This district is called " The Grand Duchy of Baden,"*^ and 



EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 29T 

the sovereign is ycleped the Grand Duke ! Grermany is 
cut up into thirty-seven parts — Kingdoms, Principalities, 
Electorates, Duchies, Provinces, and free cities, of which 
last there are four, viz. : Hamburg, Lubec, Bremen, and 
Frankfort ; and, so far as union is concerned, it is a rope 
of sand. 

The petty rulers of these, what we should call, clever 
farms, are jealous, in the extreme, of each other. Here 
are forty-two millions of inhabitants, speaking the same 
language, of the same habits, and from the same stock. 
Here is the source of the nohle Anglo Saxon blood — the 
light skin, blue eyes, and full brain ; and yet powerless, 
for good, because of their disunion and depravity. They 
have been cursed and crushed by a false religion ; priest- 
ridden and robbed, until their independence is gone. 

"0, that they had hearkened unto me," Grod says of 
them ; he would have made their " peace like a river, and 
their righteousness like waves of the sea." 0, that they 
had heeded the counsels of Luther, purged their land of 
those parasites, the Koman priests, cast off the yoke 
of the papacy, and stood erect in the dignity of human 
nature ! 

This little Duchy of Baden, this Grand duchy, has 
an area of 1,868 square miles less than the state of Massa- 
chusetts — that state having 7,800 square miles, and Baden 
5,932. It has a population of 1,379,000 inhabitants — 
Massachusetts a little less than a million. And yet it is 
the largest of these Duchies ; some of them having only 



298 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 



n 



26,000 inhabitants, and each of them supporting a govern- 
ment, which is an insupportable burden to the people. 
Royalty is an expensive plaything — and those who con- 
tend for the " divine right of kings " should remember that 
Grod forewarned his people that a king would prove a curse 
to them. That " he will take your sons, and appoint them 
for himself, for his chariots and to be his horsemen ; and 
some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint 
him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties, and 
set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvests, and to 
make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. 
And ye shall cry out in that day because of your Icing 
which ye shall have chosen you ; and the Lord will not 
hear you in that day." How remarkably true all over this 
oppressed earth ! Even in England, the mildest and best 
administered of all monarchies, the people groan and cry 
out, because of their burdens. Pardon this digression, 
mon ami ; my repuhlican heart gets stirred here in this 
region of oppression. 

The valley of the Rhine was spread out before us in 
great extent. On our left was France, separated from 
Grermany by the Rhine, with the Yosges mountains rising 
in the distance. On our right, and miles away, the cele- 
brated Black Forest, a rano;e of mountains covered with 
the dark foliage of the spruce and hemlock. While, as far 
as we could see, the level plain spread out before us like a 
sea. The valley of the Rhine, including the whole extent 
from the Falls above Basle, to the Hague, has been not 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 299 

unaptly called the " cock-pit of the nations ! " The soil 
has been fertilized with human gore, while the river, 



" From its native rock, 



Ran purple to the sea." 

What a sight will it be, when the trumpet sounds its last 
and fearful summons, to see rising all who have fallen on 
the banks of this river. Ambition's tribute ! 

I infer, from the number of dykes we saw, that, at times, 
this vast plain is overflowed ; and I think there can be but 
little doubt that at some remote period this whole region, 
above the heights below Mayence, was one vast lake. It 
is like riding through lake Erie, as it will be centuries 
hence, when the waters shall have been drained off at 
Buffalo, by the wearing away of Niagara Falls. 

The land here is laid off into small parcels, and is in a 
high state of cultivation. The peasants are seen trudging 
off a-field, in their wooden shoes, and large straw hats, and 
short petticoats. The majority of the laborers here, as in 
other parts of Europe, are females. The '' lords of crea- 
tion " are off somewhere, shouldering arms ! 

The inhabitants live in little clusters of brick or stone 
houses, on the edge of the plain, or on some eminence, out 
of the way of the water. 

In the afternoon, we stopped at a little village, where we 
changed cars, leaving the main track, which continues on to 
Heidelburg, and took a branch which took us to this cele- 
brated watering place, where we arrived about 4, P. M., 



800 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

the distance from the main road being only three miles. 
This whole region abounds in mineral and hot springs. 
There are as many as sixty -watering places in this country, 
the principal and most renowned of which are Baden- 
Baden and Ueberlingen. This is an old city, containing 
about six thousand three hundred inhabitants. Its posi- 
tion is most romantic, lying ensconced among surrounding 
mountains. On a height, above the city, is an old castle, 
now in ruins, in which some curious Roman relics were 
recently discovered. 

In a place like this you find, of course, a great number 
of hotels ; some, the most splendid on the continent, with 
prices to match. We put up at a quiet but comfortable 
hotel, that we might rest on the holy Sabbath. We saw a 
notice printed in English, and posted up in the hotel, that 
there would be religious service in English at the church of 
the hospital the next day. Accordingly, Sabbath morning, 
when the " church going bell " announced the commence- 
ment of divine service, we followed the direction of our 
landlord, and came to the door of the church. It was 
thronged, and we could but just peep into the door-way. 
The body of the church was filled with Prussian soldiers, to 
whom a priest was delivering a most violent harangue in 
German. To our surprise, we found ourselves in a Cath- 
olic church. All around us were images of the virgin, and 
saints, and angels, and some which partook of the charac- 
ter of neither. We stood, until the conclusion of the 
service, and then retired, and waited to see the egress of 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 301 

the military. They came out, without music, serious and 
orderly, and took their position in line. The oflScers, fine- 
looking, mustachioed gentlemen, stepped in front ; they 
counted ofF, and then, at a single word, they broke into 
platoons, wheeled, and marched, without " tap of drum," 
like a piece of mechanism. 

We supposed we had entered the wrong church, and 
went again to the notiee, and to our landlord ; hut he 
assured us we were right, and that the English service 
would commence immediately after the close of the Ger- 
man service. We hurried hack, and found a congregation 
assembling; many of whom, indeed the majority, were 
English. We took seats ; and soon the service com- 
menced. 

A young man read the prayers, while we observed three 
dignified looking men, in full canonicals, sitting in the 
chancel, close by the high altar, where was the image of 
the Virgin Mary, and of the Saviour, and the cherubim 
spreading their wings over the ark, with all the parapher- 
nalia of the idolatrous worship of Rome. And how like 
mockery of God, and a burlesque on worship, did it ap- 
pear, when the ofiiciating clergyman commenced the com- 
munion service : " And God spake these words, and 
said : I am the Lord thy God : thou shalt have none 
other Gods but me. 

'^People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our 
hearts to keep this law. 

" Minister. Thou shalt not make to thyself any gramn 
26 



302 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven 
above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the 
earth. Thou shalt not how down to them nor worship 
them, (not even with a mental reservation,^ for I the Lord 
thy Grod am a jealous Grod. 

" People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our 
hearts to keep this law." 

And, at the same moment, all bowing down to the 
images around them ! I could not learn how Pilate and 
Herod were so made friends that the English Protestant 
Missionary, in Baden, held a service each Sabbath in a 
Catholic church. Yet so it is. After the reading of the 
service, one of the clergymen sitting in the chancel, a tall, 
thin, pale, dignified man, with a cap in his hand, like the 
caps of the professors in the English colleges, marched ,up 
into the pulpit, and commenced a discourse upon the temp- 
tations and dangers of Baden. I asked a gentleman near 
me who he was, and was told it was " Bishop Spencer, of 
Madras, in the East Indies." He is here for his health. 
He gave us a fine sermon, and came down upon the prom- 
inent sin of the place, gambling, with great freedom and 
power. I was greatly pleased with him. 

I was speaking of the sermon to an intelligent English 
gentleman and his lady, whom I met here, and commended 
it highly. " Yes," said he, "it was a fine discourse, but 
it made no impression. The congregation were thinking 
of their gambling operations all the while, and were 
anxious for the close of the service, that they might get to 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 303 

the tables. The establishments open at eleven o'clock, on 
the Sabbath, and the congregation go from the church to 
the gambling house." " Yes," added his lady, " and the 
minister with the rest." " Surely, you do not mean the 
bishop, madam ? " " 0, no ; but / have seen clergymen 
there.'' ^ 

This gentleman informed me that since he had been 
here he saw diQ. American lose four hundred pounds (two 
thousand dollars) in one evening, at play. And he was 
informed that the same man had lost fifteen hundred 
pounds (seven thousand five hundred dollars) here ! This 
is, probably, some "nice young man," whose pockets his 
father, in a ''green old age," had filled, and sent him to 
make *^ le grand tour." 

The great establishment for the ruin of souls is on the 
south of a little stream which divides the city. You pass 
over a small bridge, and enter a grand place, or public 
square, with rows of elegant trees, and two sides of which 
are lined with bazars, filled with every possible production 
of art, and all articles of luxury. These are all open at 
eleven o'clock, A.M., on the Sabbath. At the head of 
the square, stands a row of princely buildings, with fine 
colonnades, and ornamented fronts. On the extreme right 
is a theatre ; next a splendid restaurant, or liquor shop ; 
then the gaming establishment, one of the most superb 
buildings I have seen ; then a hotel ; and then — I cannot 
say, positively, what comes next ! It is altogether a scene 
to dazzle the eyes, and inflame the heart with passion. 



304 EAMBLES IN^EUROPE. 

It reminded me, more than any thing I ever saw, of 
Bunyan's ** Vanity Fair." I could hardly believe but the 
dreamer had been here ! At least, his description was a 
" dream which was not all a dream." 

" This fair, indeed, 'was no new thing.' Almost five 
thousand years agone, there were pilgrims walking to the 
celestial city. And Beelzebub and Apollyon contrived to 
set up this fair, wherein should be sold all sorts of vanity, 
and that it should last all the year long. Therefore, at 
this fair are all sorts of merchandizes sold, as houses, lands, 
trades, places, honors, preferments, titles, countries, king- 
doms, lusts, pleasures ; and delights of all sorts, as hounds, 
wives, husbands, children, and masters, servants, lives, 
blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones, 
and what not ! Moreover, at this fair are at all 
times to be seen jugglings, cheats, games, plays, fools, 
apes, knaves and rogues, and that of every kind. Here 
are to be seen, too, thefts, murders, adulteries, and false 
swearers. And, as in other fairs, there are several rows 
and streets under their proper names, where such and 
such wares are vended, so here, likewise, you have the 
proper places, rows, and streets. Here is the Britain row, 
the French row, the Italian row, the Spanish row, the 
German row," (and American row, vide new edition ! ) 
" But, as in other fairs some one commodity is as the 
chief of all the fair, so the ware of Rome, and her merch- 
andize, is greatly promoted in this fair. Only our English 
nation, with some others, have taken a dislike thereat.' ' 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 305 

(Nota Bene. — This last sentence is to be expunged irom 
the next Oxford edition of Pilgrim's Progress, by Dr. 
Pusey .') 

A finer and more truthful description of this celebrated 
watering place cannot be written. 

At 11 o'clock the rooms are all open and in full blast. 
Around the tables are crowds of anxious votaries. The 
managers sit one on either side ; and as the wheel turns, 
and the balls fall into their places, you hear only the 
words, *'^ro^s," **c^7^5'," ^^ deux,^^ ^' quartorze,^^ '^vingt^^ 
and with a little rake he draws in the money which has 
been placed upon the several figures. Sometimes, of 
course, the managers lose, but this is only a ruse to whet 
the appetites of the players. Well dressed ladies (?) 
crowd up to the table and throw down their piece of silver 
or gold, lose, and turn away. All solemn, not a smile ; 
anxious and almost breathless the crowd wait their chance to 
play. And still you hear only the dull roll of the ball, and 
the deep, gruff voice of the " marker," " un-quartre, dix, 
vingt, deux, trente ! ^^ while ever and anon one turns 
away, pale, haggard, and despau-ing ! he is ruined ! I 
could think of nothing but hell, and the arch fiend playing 
for souls ! I hurried out actually frightened ! 

About 4, P. M., the square begins to fill with prome- 
naders. A Prussian military band seat themselves on an 
elevated platform, and perform some of the finest overtures 
of the most celebrated composers. 

The multitude increases. All nations, all languages, all 
2G* 



306 RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

costumes, all grades, and all characters, pour along. The 
drinking saloons are crowded, where are seen the finest 
paintings and most exquisite statuary. The theatre is open 
and the night^s revel has commenced. 1 left the scene of 
mirth and madness, and walked to the top of one of the 
surrounding hills, from which I had a grand view of the 
^^ Black Forest'''' and' the surrounding scenery. My 
impressions had been that the " Black Forest," the scene 
of the operations of some of Napoleon's marshals, was a 
plain, with a thick growth of 'pine or jir. But it is cor- 
rected. It is a range of lofty and terrible looking moun- 
taiaas. The waters on the east flow into the Danube, that 
river taking its rise at the eastern base of these hills, and 
not far from this place, while its western slopes discharge 
their waters into the Rhine. 

The old church, or cathedral, in this city has been the 
place of meeting of two noted diets or meetings of the 
'* German States-General." A diet was held here in 
1520, at which the legate Pucci, sent from Rome, 
demanded that all Luther's writings should be burned. 
But the sturdy Germans, fond of hooks, thought it a pity 
to lose so much labor, and refused to accede to the proposal. 
And then, still later, one of those curious discussions took 
place here by which the doctrines of the Reformation were 
attempted to be put down. It was a meeting of the Swiss 
and German Reformers against the Catholics. The dispu- 
tation was fixed for the 16th of May, 1526. Dr. Eck 
was here to manage the controversy for the Papists, and 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 307 

Ecolampadius for the Reformers. Zwingle wished much 
to come, but was in time warned that it would be unsafe. 
The majority of the meeting were Catholics, and without 
publishing any minutes of the debate, declared, with 
characteristic arrogance, that they had triumphed in the 
debate. "Lotus see the minutes," said the Swiss people; 
but they were not forth-coming. 

All this land is consecrated by deeds of heroic daring, 
by great struggles of truth against error, by the flames of 
martyrdom and the blood of martyrs. We long to visit 
many places which we cannot for want of time. Let no 
one think of visiting the Old "World on a furlough ; but 
take unlimited time, and then you can follow your inclina- 
tions, lino;er over ruins or scenes of classic interest, and 
indulge your fancy to satiety 



LETTER XXYIII. 



Frankfort, August 21, 1850. 
Friend S : 

We left Baden-Baden, or Baden of Baden, at nine 
o'clock, A. M., with maDj others who had seen the curiosi- 
ties, bathed in the tepid waters, and some of whom had lost 
their money at the gaming tables, after hearing Bishop 
Spencer's warning against the seductions of the place. 

We took the cars for this city, intending to make but 
one stop, viz. , at Heidelburg. A run of twenty-five miles 
brought us to Carlsrhue, the capital of the Duchy of 
Baden, and the residence of the Grand Duke. But as I 
had no desire to see him, I went through his capital with- 
out taking off my cap. This city is three and a half miles 
from the Rhine, and has a population of only twenty-four 
thousand, — a small affair for the capital of a kingdonf. 
Our route here recedes from the river, which we left on 
our left hand, the plain stretching off to a great distance. 
The cities of Spires and Strasburg are on the left bank of 
308 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. _ 309 

the Rhine, and but just appear in the distance. As we 
leave the river, the soil becomes poor, light, and sandy, 
much like our pine barrens. It is not, and cannot be, 
cultivated to any great extent. We see our old acquaint- 
ance, the soldiers, all along the way ; at each station, each 
little village, they are sauntering about — nothing to do, 
and nobody to help them. I imagined they felt ashamed 
of their position. At least, I am sure I should ; as much 
so as to be marching through the goodly city of Boston, 
followed by scores of boys and loafers, looking at my 
feather 1 

From Baden to Heidelburg the distance is about sixty 
miles. We reached the city about eleven o'clock, and 
stopped, intending to take an afternoon train for Frankfort, 
which is only about fifty miles distant from Heidelburg. 

As our object in stopping here was to visit the celebrated 
castle, we immediately started for it without a guide. We 
could see it reposing in its sombre dignity on the mountain 
side, near the city ; indeed, overlooking all the region. 

Leaving the city on our left a little, we passed through a 
long avenue of fine shade trees, and striking into a road, 
which seemed to run in that direction, we soon found our- 
selves rising in the world ; our steps became gradually 
shorter, and so with our breath. 

Finding our road diverged too much from the direction 
of the ruins, we inquired of a countryman, and he pointed 
to the left. We struck into another road, and soon we 
found ourselves under the immense archway leading into 



310 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

the court-yard, wliere a vast plateau of grass and wild shrub- 
bery spread out before us. Here had been held many a 
tournament in the days of chivalry. As we entered the 
court, a beautiful stone archway fixed our attention, and a 
guide, whom we found here, informed us that it is called 
'* Queen Elizabeth's gateway," and was built to commemo- 
rate the visit of the queen to this castle. But who before 
knew that old queen Bess ever visited the Castle of 
Heidelburg ? I conclude the poor fellow took us for Joha 
Bulls, and wished to flatter our vanity. Had he known 
we were Jonathans, he would probably have told us that it 
was built to celebrate Jackson's victory at New Orleans ! 
We passed the great gateway into the court, through walls 
ten feet thick, with guard rooms on either hand. Here we 
found some women, who act the part of guides through the 
castle. Engaging one of them, she took a huge key, and 
leading the way down into a subterranean region, she 
opened the curiosity shop. Here the relics of other days 
were gathered. Old swords, spears, helmets, spurs, hal- 
berds, skulls, and I know not what beside. Winding, now, 
up a flight of crazy stone steps, we came to room after 
room, cold, dark, desolate, and deserted. What had they 
been, or who had occupied them ? At last we came out 
upon the ruins of the grand tower, which the Vandal 
French blew up in 1689, and then the ruin was completed 
in 1764, when it was struck by lightning. From this 
point you look down some hundreds of feet into the valley 
below. The little river, the Necker, flows down through 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 311 

the valley, and off to the Rhine. In the distance, at the 
junction of these rivers, the city of Manheim, with numer- 
ous and lofty spires, appears in view. The front of the 
castle is nearly entire, the towers excepted. Passing along 
the wall, and descending the stone stairs again, we come to 
the little chapel, in a good state of repair. The plain 
wooden benches, the chair, the pulpit, are all here yet, and 
in good preservation, though so many years have passed 
since the Palatines and Electors worshipped here. 

At one end of the chapel is the confessional, — the very 
box where the priest sat, and the little lattice at which his 
ear was placed to catch the whispered confession of some 
stalwart knight, or fair and jewelled lady. I looked in ; — 
shade of Tetzel ! — there he sat before me! His large, 
lustrous eyes looking sternly upon me, his hands resting on 
his knees, and his ear at the lattice. But he listens in 
vain ; no whispered confession enters his ear ; no sob of 
penitent grief disturbs the silence, nor will ever again ! 
His occupation's gone ! It is an effigy of the last priest 
who officiated as chaplain in this castle. His hair and 
dress have been preserved, and wax has done the rest. 

What emotions swelled our souls, as we thought, Luther 
has preached in this chapel ! Luther spent many nights in 
some of the rooms through which we have passed. 

In the spring of 1518, the order of the Augustines held 
its chapter in this city of Heidelburg. Luther was a mem- 
ber of the order, and was summoned to meet them. 
Luther was at Wirtemburg, and that city is on the Elbe, 



312 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

and three hundred miles from Heidelburg. His friends 
said, '' Stay where you are." Conscience said, " Gro 
where your duty calls you." He set out, the historian 
says, on foot, with a guide who carried his luggage. He 
reached Coburg, about half way to his destination, and 
then wrote a friend : " All goes well, by God's favor, un- 
less it be that I must acknowledge myself to have sinned in 
undertaking this journey on foot. But for that sin I think 
I have no need of any indulgence, for my contrition is 
perfect, and the satisfaction plenary. I am exhausted with 
fatigue, and all the conveyances are full." Some friends 
met him on the road, and gave him a seat in their carriage. 
On the 21st of April they drove into Heidelburg, and 
Luther alighted at the convent of the Augustines. You 
see it from the battlements yonder, — that old building 
with the curious tower. Heidelburg was then the capital 
of this Palatinate, and Count Wolfgang, Duke of Bavaria, 
then resided in this castle. Luther had brought a letter 
from the Elector of Saxony to this Count. "Luther 
repaired to his magnificent castle, the delightful situation of 
which is even at this day the admiration of strangers. 
He delivered his letter to John Simler, the steward of the 
household. The latter, on reading it, said, * Truly, you 
have a valuable letter of credit here.' The Count received 
him very graciously, and invited him to his table. Luther 
says : ' We are very happy together, and amused each 
other with agreeable conversation, taking our repast, 
examining the beauties of the Palatine Palace, admiring 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 313 

the ornaments, the armory, cuirasses, and any thing 
remarkable in this celebrated and truly royal castle.* " 

The discussion took place down there, in the old convent 
of the Augustines. A young man named Bucer was, at 
that time, chaplain to the Count Palatine, in this old castle. 
He attended the discussion, took notes of Luther's 
addresses, was converted subsequently, and became a 
helper of Luther. Who does not remember, in the history 
of the Reformation, the name of Martin Bucer? This 
city afterwards revived the reformed doctrines. But the 
" fine gold has become dim." 

In the cellar of this castle is the celebrated wine cask 
which held two thousand one hundred tierces, or eighty- 
four thousand gallons ! It is not likely it was often filled 
with wine. We left the chapel, and passed into one of 
the wings, up broken and tottering stairs, into a labyrinth 
of rooms, roofless, and floorless, and in perfect ruin. 
The soul has fled ! We made our exit by a postern 
in the front wall, into a path that led us down through 
the city. I broke off a piece of the wall, and put it in my 
pocket. 

We passed through the entire length of the city. The 
streets are narrow and dirty. It contains about fifteen 
thousand inhabitants ; but they appear without ambition — 
soldiers and asses in abundance. There is a celebrated 
university here, which, in 1846, had eight hundred and 
sixty-four students. 

Back to our hotel, where we took dinner at th© table 
27 



314 EAMBLES IN EUKOPE. 



1 



d'hote ; and it was a curiosity. I took note, at the time, 
of the dishes : — 



1 


Course 


i, Soup. 


2 


<( 


Boiled Salmon. 


3 


a 


Mutton and Vegetables. 


4 


ti 


Tongue. 


5 


(( 


Sausage and Ragout. 


6 


(( 


Koast Beef. 


7 


(( 


Chicken in Curry. 


8 


(( 


Roast Goose. 


9 


(( 


Pudding, 


10 


<( 


Jumbles. 


11 


(f 


Cake. 


12 


li 


Fruit. 


13 


it 


Another kind of Cake. 



Think of that, ye epicures ; and imagine a hungry man 
waiting the slow process of thirteen changes ! 

We took the cars, at three, for the city of Frankfort. 
The part of the country through which we passed to reach 
this city is uninteresting ; moderately hilly, and not pro- 
ductive. The alluvial tract of land, on the banks of the 
Rhine, is the garden of this country. "We saw an inter- 
esting sight as we stopped at our station, ^ — a "shepherd 
abiding in the field, keeping his flock " of some hundreds 
of sheep. He was dressed in a long, black surtout, with 
a slouched hat, and stood leaning upon his crook. His 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 315 

sheep were all about him, without fear; for they ^'knew 
his voice. ^^ His faithful and sagacious dog seemed to 
have the principal care of his flock ; for when one of the 
flock wandered farther oflf than, in the judgment of the 
dog, comported with propriety, he started oflT, and gently 
urged it back. It was a beautiful picture of primitive pas- 
toral life. 

Our company was made up of Grermans, mostly ; but a 
few Englishmen were mingled with us. A fine looking, 
intelligent Grerman, who spoke English well, entered into 
conversation with me. When he found I was an American, 
he became quite enthusiastic. On learning that I was 
from Boston, he inquired if I knew Mr. Charles Sumner, 
I told him I believed Mr. Sumner was then somewhere in 
Europe, and I thought it not unlikely I should meet him 
in Frankfort. He said he gave Mr. S. lessons in Grerman, 
when he visited Europe some years since, and he should be 
delighted to see him. I gave him my note-book, for his 
address, and he wrote as follows : " Lambert Grosch, 
Assessor Z. Eastatt, sends his best regards to Mr. Charles 
Sumner, and wishes very eagerly to see him before he 
leaves his country. On the railroad, between Baden and 
Kastatt." I therefore send the compliments of M. 
Grrosch, though I have not yet met Mr. Sumner here. 

At half-past six o'clock we thundered over a fine 
bridge, spanning the ''Main Fluss,^^ and found our- 
selves at last in the free city of Frankfort-on-the-Mayne : 
kept free by five thousand Austrian and Prussian soldiers, 



316 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

whom the people are obliged to support to keep themselves 
ia order. ** Yive le roi ! " "A has le peuple ! " A 
fiacre took us to the hotel " Zum Weissen Schwan, am 
Theatre Platz." But I caution all persons to seek some 
other house than the White Swan, in Theatre Place. We 
found poor beds, poor attendance, and poor fare, while the 
charge was enormous. The English hotel was full, and 
we could not do better that night : but the next morning 
we found and took private lodgings, paying a moderate 
price for our rooms, and taking our meals where we 
pleased. This is the best plan, where you intend spending 
a week, or more, in a place. You are then independent; 
you can go and come when you please, and live to suit 
yourself. Our meals we usually took at a fine restaurant, 
in the ** Grrossen Hirschgraben," and next door to the 
house in which Goethe, the great German poet, was born. 
This, I will say, en passant, is a fine four story stone front 
house. On the front, cut into the stone, you read this 
inscription : — 

" In diesen Hause 

wurde 

JoHANN "Wolfgang Goethe 

am 28 August, 1749, 

Gebozen." 

There are two fine statues of this celebrated man in this 
city; one in " der stadt-allee," and the other in " der 
Btadt-biblothek ; " both grand specimens of the art. This 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 317 

city, like most European cities, abounds in fine statues in 
public places. I hope, when our country is finished, and 
the fever for money-making abates, we shall turn our 
attention to the fine arts more successfully, and encourage 
and sustain native genius, an abundance of which, I am 
persuaded, lies hidden among us. 

We have spent two days perambulating around and 
through this city. I shall give you the result of my sight- 
seeing somewhat condensed. 

This city is one of the so called free cities of Grermany, 
and was founded as early as the 5th century by the Franks. 
The territory belonging to the city is of about forty-two 
square miles, and the whole population sixty-eight thousand, 
mostly Lutherans; there being some six thousand Catholics^ 
and the same number of Jews. There was formerly a 
palace here occupied by the old Dukes ; and the illus- 
trious Charlemagne often resided hero. It is situated on 
the river Mayne, about eighteen miles from its junction 
with the Rhine. The population of the city proper is not 
far from fifty thousand. We have seen few public build- 
ings of any note. St. Bartholomew's Church, in which 
the Emperors were formerly crowned, is the most remark- 
able. But as we have seen the finest cathedrals on the 
continent, these second rate places attract little attention. 

This is a walled city, and double rows of trees on the 

outside of the wall form the most delightful promenade 

imaginable. The thors, or gates, are all guarded by 

armed men; and a special squad of officers has just 

27* 



318 EAMBLES IX EUKOPE. 



n 



arrived, Prussian and Austrian ; among wbom Is the 
monster Haynau, perhaps apprehending that the peace 
delegates might get up another revolution. Companies 
of troops are constantly marching and countermarching 
through the city. Military stations are seen all around you. 
The public square is fortified with eighteen pieces of can- 
non, and a fine band of music plays there every evening to 
soothe the lacerated feelings of the people. Your readers 
will recollect that this city took the revolutionary fever In 
the excitement of 1848, and the Austrian and Prussian 
leeches abated it by pills and lancet / Near my lodgings 
a barricade was thrown up, one of the buildings was 
riddled with shot, and it is left in that state as a " memento 
tyrannl." 

A military station Is near my lodgings, and as I was 
passing It to-day I met, what reminded me of koine more 
than any thing I have seen, a troop of hoi/s going to 
school ! It is the first spectacle of the kind I have seen. 
Each had a knapsack strapped to his back filled with books. 
I thought, as they went laughing by the soldiers, ' ' you are 
carrying ammunition that will soon unsettle the thrones of 
tyrants, and send the occupation of these minions of power 
to its original home ! " 

We found in our walks an old, oddly shaped church, In 
which Luther used to preach. We tried hard to get in, 
but the key could not be found, so we contented ourselves 
with standing on the well-worn steps, trusting that our feet 
had touched a spot upon which his had rested ! Wonder- 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 319 

ful is the mission of good men to the world ; wonderful the 
undying influence which emanates from them. 

We met here, among other Americans, Professor Cleave- 
land, formerly of Boston, now of Philadelphia. We have, 
with him, written to Liverpool to take passage in the 
steamer Asia for home I We made up a company to visit 
two objects of curiosity out of the city, viz. : the cemetery, 
and the private, but splendid, collection of statuary in 
" Von Bethman's " Museum. " Be sure," said an 
English lady to me, somewhere on my route, " you go 
and see the statue of Ariadne on her leopard." 

We chartered two drosehen, or hacks, and off we went 
about three miles to the museum of Mr. B. Our Ameri- 
can ladies were too modest to go in with us, and so 
remained sitting in the carriage until we had satisfied our 
curiosity, and then they went in. An English or French 
lady, high bred and modest, would discuss with one the 
beauties of these specimens of art, with the utmost free- 
dom. The statue of Ariadne is superb, large as life ; 
reclining on her left hip upon the back of the leopard, she 
seems a living thing about to address you. The window 
of the room is screened by a crimson cloth, so that the light 
falls upon the marble with a life-like tint. The whole is 
upon a pivot, so that the attendant turns it round slowly, 
giving you a perfect view of it in your position. I have 
seen some models of this great work in some jeweller's 
window in Washington street, Boston. It is the work of 
Thorwalsden, I believe. The remaining ancient statuary 



320 KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

we did not spend mucb time upon, but started off to visit 
the cemetery. This is a fine plot of ground, and hand- 
somely laid out. But the attraction here is the noted dead- 
house. It is an arrangement to decide the question of 
death before burial. How many have shuddered at the 
thouofht of beino; hurled alive ! Poets and novelists have 
painted such scenes. The subject, all unable to speah or 
move, and yet conscious ; the shrouding, shutting up the 
coffin, lowering it into the grave, the last prayer, the 
audible sobs of mourners, and then the awful dropping of 
the sods upon the coffin ! ugh ! it 's horrible ! but it is all 
poetry. I do not believe a clear case has ever been made 
out. 

This establishment has been in operation twenty years, 
and three thousand persons have been " watched, ''^ and not 
one ever woke ! Any person can have their friends 
carried through this process by paying the expense. All 
strangers dying in Frankfort are watched, so that their 
friends at a distance may not have the horrid suspicion that 
they were buried alive. I feel thankful to the authorities 
(unless the Austrians and Prussians have something to do 
with it ; if so, I take it back !) of Frankfort, that if I do 
die here I shall be watched three or four days and nights 
before being entombed. But I will describe it to you as 
well as I am able. 

You enter the cemetery through a large building, the 
part on the right hand occupied by the sexton and attend- 
ants. On the left you enter a door, and you are in the 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 321 

dead room. Arranged on one side of the room are eight 
or ten cells, like bathing rooms in a bath house ; in size 
about four feet by eight. A narrow bed is in the room ; 
you see a j5ne wire hangs over the couch, at the end of 
which are ten thimbles, each connected with the wire at its 
top. This wire runs through the partition, and is there 
attached to a little bell, there being as many bells sus- 
pended in the adjoining room as there are cells in this. 
The body to be watched is laid upon the couch, the 
thimbles, above noticed, put upon the fingers of the body, 
so that the slightest muscular motion rings the bell to 
which the wire is attached. 

The room adjoining this is for the watchman ; there he 
remains day and night for the specified time. 

To prevent all negligence, a clock is set in one corner of 
this room, similar to the watch-clocks in our factories. A 
plate, whose edge is perforated, revolves, bringing the hole 
opposite a corresponding one in the outer case, which is 
strongly locked, and the business of the watcher is to slip 
a pin into the perforation every fifteen minutes ; if it 
passes, the inspector discovers the mistake upon unlocking 
the clock. Next to this room is a third, with a bed with 
warm blankets, a warm bath, always ready and warm when 
a body is watched, a well supplied medicine chest, and a 
surgeon or physician always in attendance. The arrange- 
ment is perfect and beautiful. Imagine now a body laid 
out, the thimbles upon the fingers, the watcher pacing 
backwards and forwards in his room ; all still as the house 



322 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 



1 



of death ; and lie expecting every moment the startling 
tinkle of that little bell on the wall ! I think I could not 
watch ! 

On our return to the city, we went to visit the Jews'' 
street ; the point of interest here being the old Rothschild 
house, where these famous bankers were born, and where 
the mother lived until her death, which took place a short 
time since. 

The street is narrow and dirty ; the buildings of the 
meanest kind ; but I could not help believing that in 
beyond these dark and dirty precincts some Shylock sat, 
dreaming of his hoard, and muttering — 

" There is some ill a brewing towards my rest, 
For I did dream of money bags to-night." 

Or some Jessica receiving such orders as these — 

" Hear you me, Jessica ; — 
Lock up my doors ; and when you hear the drum, 
And the vile squeaking of the wry-necked j&fe, 
Clamber not you up to the casements then, 
Nor thrust your head into the public street, 
To gaze on Christian fools with varnished faces." 

Or some beautiful Rebecca bending over her embroidery. 
But I saw none, except three villainous looking fellows 
engaged in a close conversation in a dark entry. The 
Rothschild house is a quaint, steep roofed affair, with the 
roof and front wall covered with slate. The wealthy sons 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 323 

could never prevail upon the old lady to leave the old 
mansion, and go into one more elegant ; with an attach- 
ment characteristic of senility, she refused to leave, but 
resolved to die where she had lived. She did so ; and 
" gave up the ghost among her own people." 



LETTER XXIX. 



FRANKroRT, August 22, 1850. 

Friend S : 

Our Congress opened tMs morning witli great eclat. 
The place of meeting is St. Paul's Church, formerly so 
called, but given by the city authorities as a Parliament 
House for the meeting of the States-General, and fitted up 
for that purpose. It is a large oval building, with high 
galleries all around, supported by a row of large columns, 
and beautifully decorated with festooned curtains and the 
flags of the Grermanic Confederation, tri-colored, black, red 
and gold. Over the pulpit are three splendid flags, and a 
large, gilt shield, bearing the double-headed eagle. There 
was a great rush for tickets by the citizens, and at an early 
hour the galleries and the seats under them were filled with 
ladies and gentlemen anxious to witness the opening cere- 
monies. The delegates began to come in early, and soon 
the entire area was filled. I noticed two colored gentle- 
men, Rev. Mr. Pennington, of New York, and Grarnett, of 
324 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 325 

Troy, and a representative of the aborigines of the Amer- 
ican wilderness, George Copway. Above four hundred 
came over from England, and a deputation from France. 
About twenty from the United States were present this 
morning, and our great country was duly honored by hav- 
ing the names of her delegates first read, Boston heading 
the list. 

The Congress was opened by the nomination of a list of 
officers by the Committee of Arrangements, which was 
adopted. Mynheer Jaub, the former prime minister of the 
Grand Duke of Darmstadt, was appointed President, and 
a large number of vice presidents and secretaries were 
selected from the various countries represented. The presi- 
dent, on taking the chair, most appropriately suggested 
that we spend a few moments in silent prayer for the divine 
blessing upon the meeting ; after which, he read an ad- 
dress, which was translated into French and then into 
English : first, by a Protestant clergyman, of this city, and 
then by Mr. Richards, of England. It was received with 
immense applause, as it successively reached the minds of 
the different languages present. It resembled the pro- 
longed and repeated echoes among the everlasting Alps. 

I ought here to say, that the city authorities have done 
themselves great honor in so freely tendering the use of 
their fine house for the accommodation of the meeting. 
Among the memorable incidents of the morning session, I 
must not omit to mention this — the far-famed and deeply 
execrated Austrian, Gen. Haynau, appeared among the 
28 



326 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

spectators, and spent some time in viewing the vast assem- 
blage. Perhaps he was in to see if any of us had occasion 
to be shot ! At least, he looked as though he would enjoy 
the marching in of his five thousand Prussian and Austrian 
soldiers stationed in this city, and driving us all out through 
the windows. Richard Cobden alluded to his presence as 
a good omen ; but one could but think of the gathering of 
the " sons of God, when they came to present themselves 
before the Lord," a certain busy-body came among them ! 
The second day of the Convention a few more Americans 
arrived — Mr. B. B. Mussey, of Boston, and Eev. E. H. 
Chapin, of New York. The speaking has generally been 
very desultory — few of the speakers were willing to keep 
to the resolutions. Mr. Cobden, of England, made a most 
effective speech on the resolution recommending a mutual 
disarming of the nations. Among othor . things, he said, 
the " peace friends had been denounced as enthusiasts, by 
the war party, and had passed through all stages of the 
process, even the charivari stage, in which they had been 
represented with noses as long as his arm.'''' He is a 
capital debater, and has had, of course, much practice. 
Emile Grirardin, of France, followed him, in his nervous 
and pointed manner ; he is a strong man, with great acute- 
ness, and powerful logic. One is strongly reminded of 
Napoleon Bonaparte, by a profile of his face ; his addresses 
were received with great cheering when translated into 
German and English. Girardin is a man of thought, and, 
when he speaks, he speaks to a point. His manner is 



EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 327 

bad — standing upon bis left foot, with the right thrown 
forward, and his left hand upon his hip, or resting it upon 
the tribune, and slashing the air perpendicularly with his 
right, he pours out a torrent of words with great feeling ; 
his soul seems kindling as he proceeds with his theme, and 
he reaches his climax in a perfect blaze of eloquence. He 
fixes and keeps the attention of the audience, even those 
who cannot understand him. His sentences are short — 
often but a single word, a -question, followed by an answer 
as brief. You find yourself, ere you think of it, under a 
kind of spell_, and you are carried off in spite of yourself. 
He is a fine specimen of the French orator. Richard Cob- 
den was one of the stars ; he is evidently a genius, and 
the man of the people. I heard the people of England 
speak of him in terms of highest praise ; he is regarded 
by them as their champion ; he is where Henry Brougham 
was before he was smothered with honors. I met a number 
of English landholders at the great watering place, Baden- 
Baden, and the subject of the great Peace Congress came 
up often, and the remark would be made, "Well, I sup- 
pose Cobden will be there ; he is always running after 
novelties, and all he cares for is popularity." The fact is, 
the English aristocrats hate and fear him, as much as the 
people love and trust him. He is emphatically a reformer. 
" I have been following Utopian matters," said he, " all 
my life ; " that is, he had been a leader, and of course 
steps forward in advance of the age and the people. He 
is a capital debater; it was specially requested that the 



328 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 



m 



speakers should keep to the resolutions, but Grirardin and 
Cohden were the only speakers I heard, who seemed aware 
of the existence of such things ; when Cobden spoke, he 
threw his shaft directly at the mark, and hit it. Mr. Bur- 
ritt was exceedingly anxious that no allusions should be 
made to the political condition of any country, but Cobden 
could not forbear plucking the forbidden fruit, and dashed 
into tempting enclosures, and plucked, and ate, and gave 
to us, also, to our great delight. And he did it so good- 
naturedly, that not even that impersonation of cruelty, 
Haynau, could be irritated by his allusions. So familiar 
is he with politics, so habituated to speak on that subject, 
that he could not keep his hands off it. He evidently 
loves a storm ; and when he has raised one he skips about 
over the wrathful billows like a stormy petrel. Good luck 
to Cobden, say I ; the people idolize him, and the govern- 
ment .Diaholize (put that in the dictionary) him. Now 
let your readers imagine a little, thin, wiry man, with a 
head that never could have been intended for such a body, 
his eyes and his mouth monopolizing the most of the space 
allotted to the features, his thin nose turned up at the end, 
BO that your watch would hang upon it with perfect safety, 
and over all a thick coating of good humor, never still, but 
always with a few more shot in the locker, and they will see 
the great reformer, Kichard Cobden. 

I have " noted down " the speakers in the order of their 
addresses, but this would not interest your readers. The 
people of Frankfort seemed greatly interested in the Con- 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 329 

vention, but I presume not so mucli because it was a peace 
meeting, as because it was a novelty, and brought a host of 
strangers to their beautiful city. And, indeed, one can 
hardly wonder at this ; the people want freedom, and can- 
not obtain it. You know, in the recent revolution in Grer- 
many, Frankfort was the scene of a desperate struggle, 
fearful and fruitless ; just opposite my lodgings a barricade 
was erected, and a large building was riddled with shot, 
and is left in that state to remind them of the day and 
cause; The people have no conception of any way of 
securing freedom but by fighting for it. Five thousand 
Austrian and Prussian soldiers are quartered in their city ; 
the roll of their drums wakes them in the morning, and the 
tramp of armed men disturbs their hours of business or 
recreation. You meet them in every street ; I counted 
eighteen pieces of cannon in the public square. With all 
this, and more that cannot be written, is it a wonder that 
the Germans did not manifest as much zeal in the cause as 
the English and French ? That pander to aristocratic lust, 
the London Times, chuckles over this fact, as though it 
was proof, good and sufficient, of the Utopian character of 
this movement ; carefully keeping out of sight the peculiar 
condition of the German States at present, and the oppres- 
sion under which they groan. But I am convinced that 
many of the leading German minds are favorably ^disposed 
towards this cause, and no doubt this Convention, where 
so many Germans heard for the first time an exposition 
of peace, will exert a salutary influence upon the entire 
28* 



830 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

people. They will read our debates, become familiar with 
the astounding facts brought out, and their inquiring minds 
will be led into this subject. 

The following resolutions were introduced and discussed : 

The Congress of the friends of Universal Peace, assembled at 
Frankfort-on-the-Mayne, the 22d, 23d, and 24th August, 1850, 
acknowledges that " recourse to arms being condemned alike by 
religion, morality, reason, and humanity, it is the duty of all men 
to adopt measures calculated to abolish war ; " and the Congress 
reeommends all its members to labor in their respective countries, 
by means of a better education of youth, by the pulpit, the plat- 
forna, and the press, as well as by other practical methods, to eradi- 
cate those hereditary hatreds, and political and commercial preju- 
dices, which have been so generally the cause of disastrous 
wars. 

Thas Congress is of opinion, that one of the most effectual 
means of preserving peace would be for governments to refer to 
arbitration all those differences between them which cannot be 
otherwise amicably adjusted. 

The standing armaments, with which the governments of 
Europe menace one another, impose intolerable burdens, and inflict 
grievous moral and social evils upon their respective communities ; 
this Congress cannot, therefore, too earnestly call the attention of 
governments to the necessity of entering upon a system of inter- 
national disarmament; without prejudice to such measures as may 
be considered necessary for the maintenance of the security of the 
citizens, and the internal tranquility of each state. 

This Congress reiterates its strong disapprobation of all foreign 
loans, negotiated for the purpose of furnishing to one people the 
means of slaughtering another. 

This Congress, acknowledging the principle of non-intervention, 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 331 

recognizes it to be the sole right of every State to regulate its own 
affairs. 

This Congress recommends all the friends of peace to prepare 
public opinion in their respective countries for the convocation of 
a Congress of the representatives of the various States, with a view 
to the formation of a Code of International Law. 

One street in this city is devoted to marketing, and it is 
interesting to take an early start and visit this locality. 
You see the Grerman peasantry as it is. On all the great 
inlets to the city you will see flocking into market scores 
of ladies, generally on foot, but sometimes driving a don- 
key and cart. Each pedestrian with her commodity on her 
head : one with a basket of vegetables, another with butter, 
another with live fowls, &c. One buxom lass I noticed 
with three bushel baskets on her head, one above another, 
and all filled with vegetables. Happy the man, thought I, 
whose frau thou art. She tripped off with her load as 
though she carried nothing. 

I often passed through this market street, and listened to 
the chattering of a hundred Dutch women, and watched 
the tricks of the trade. If a purchaser appears, they have 
the art of drawing him or her to them by some quaint 
remark or a witching smile. If poultry is wanted, the fowl 
is taken from the basket, its jugular opened with a small 
knife, and its feathers are oflf almost as soon as I can write 
it. A rich display of fruit and vegetables is made as can 
be found any where. 



332 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

I have seen no women smoking ; and this is singular, as 
the practice is so universal among the men. If you sit 
down in a restorator to take your dinner, ere you finish, the 
room is full of smoke. The first who is done, draws back 
from the table and lights his meerschaum, and puffs away. 
Soon another and another follows, and the room is filled. 
So in the cars, in the Casino, and I do not know but in 
the church, also. It is a nuisance, but you must bear it. 



LETTER XXX. 



Aix LA Chappelle, Aua. 24, 1850. 

Friend S — : 

At Q^ o'clock, A. M., we left the city of Frankfort for 
this ancient city, and here spent the Lord^s day in rest. 
Taking the " waggons," as the Germans style the cars, we 
ran down to Mainz, or Mayence, at the junction of the 
Rhine and Mayne. Our progress was slow, as we were over 
an hour reaching Mainz. Here the railroad diverges to 
Wies-Baden, another watering place ; and horses attached to 
our car drew us on to Biehrich, a little town below Mayence, 
whefe we were to take the steamer for Cologne. We had 
a good view of Mayence as we passed, a city of thirty- 
four thousand inhabitants. Ten thousand Austrian and 
Prussian troops keep the city quiet. We saw here the 
first bridge of boats we have seen ; it is one thousand six 
hundred and sixty-six feet in length. This city has a fine 
cathedral, and, it is said, the strongest fortress in Grerraany. 

333 



334 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

Guttenhurg, the inventor of tlie art of printing, was 
born here, and the house is still shown. We are now 
getting upon truly enchanted ground. Antiquity sits here 
in solemn conclave. This city was founded by the Romans 
before the Christian era. 

We reached Biehrich, and soon a little black, dirty 
steamer came along and took us aboard. We had taken 
tickets at Frankfort for Cologne, issued by the great 
" Dusseldorf Company, ^^ making a great show, but with 
such steamers as an American would employ only as tow 
boats for coal barges ! 

You must pay them for putting your baggage under 
cover, and for all other attentions which passengers claim 
of public carriers. But he who travels must lay in a large 
stock of patience. Corporations on our side of the 
Atlantic are about as soulless as those here. 

The opportunity for seeing the Rhine, by which is meant 
always all that is to be seen here, is not so favorable in 
sailing down as in passing up. The current is strong, 
and your progress is rapid. Travellers usually ascend 
from Cologne, or, if they have the time, linger at each old 
town and castle ruin, plodding about on foot. We got out 
our maps, and took our stand upon the deck, and com- 
menced our work of noting each successive point of 
interest, when down came a tremendous shower of rain, 
and our enthusiasm was suddenly abated. But I had 
travelled so far to see the famous Rhine that I could not 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 335 

be disappointed, and wrapping my Scotch shawl about my 
shoulders, and spreading my umbrella, I defied the storm 
and gazed upon the bluffs as we glided by. 

There has been a vast amount of enthusiasm expended 
on the scenery of the Rhine ; and, no doubt, to those who 
have seen nothing but the marshes of lower Grermany, or 
the chalk cliffs of Dover, with the beautiful, but not 
sublime scenery of the British Isle, it is a grand scene. I 
had seen " Bayne's Panorama of the Rhine," and 
expected to find fully realized my vision of the sublime, 
when I should glide down the old river. But 

" 'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view." 

I found nothing more beautiful than the scene on the 
Hudson^ the Palisades and CatsMll mountains ; and, 
indeed, if you will take the cars at Springfield, Mass., and 
run through the mountains to Albany, you will see as much 
natural grandeur and sublimity as on the Rhine. Or 
imagine the sides of those spurs of the Green Mountains 
covered with vines instead of forest trees, and each crag 
crowned with a huge pile of old grey stones, once the 
abodes of robbers and tyrants, and the scenery will even 
surpass that of the Rhine. All the rough and moun- 
tainous part of Rhine scenery occurs soon after leaving 
Mayence. The banks rise up boldly from the river, and 
are what are called bluffs, so often seen on our Western 
rivers, rather than hills or mountains, the country running 
off level behind them. On the slopes next to the river 



336 BAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

are often seen extensive vineyards, now in full vintage. 
From Mayence to Bingen the river is wide and studded 
with beautiful islands. You see nothing of interest until 
you arrive in sight of Bingen, and then the banks of the 
river approach each other, the bluffs rise to a great height, 
and a sudden bend in the river seems to forbid farther 
progress. And now the ruins of the Rhine suddenly 
burst upon you in all their solitary grandeur ! You seem 
to have suddenly fallen among the former dwellings of 
giants, who hurled at each other from these grim and 
frowning heights, 

" the seated hills with all their load, 



EockSj waters, woods." 

You are amazed at the numbers of these old castles, 
now tumbling down, with all their centuries of buried 
incidents. Bromserherg, Klopp, Ehre7ifells, Vaultsherg, 
Bheinstein, Falkenhurg, and Sonnech, all pass in rapid 
succession before you. 

Bingen, " sweet Bingen on the Ehine," as Longfellow 
calls it, is a little dirty town on the left bank, passing 
down, at the junction of the Nahre with the Rhine. 
Opposite is Rudeshiem, connected with which castle is a 
singular tradition. Hans Broemser Yon Rudeshiem was a 
crusader, and was taken prisoner by the Saracens ; he 
made a vow that, should he be rescued, he would devote 
his only daughter, the charming Giesela, to God. On his 
return to his castle what was his astonishment to learn that 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 837 

his daughter had frustrated his pious purpose, by plighting 
her faith to a young Grerman knight named Odon ; and 
that the lovers had impatiently awaited his return in 
the expectation of receiving his sanction. In- a transport 
of fury he cursed his unfortunate daughter, who threw 
herself from the rocks into the Rhine. Her body was 
found by some fishermen, near a singular tower in the 
middle of the river. Ever since, the waters in the river 
have boiled and foamed, and exhibited all the symptoms of 
a lover's agony ! 

As we glided into these turbulent whirlpools, we heard a 
startling shriek ! it was the steam whistle ! 

In the midst of these whirlino- waters stands the Mouse 
Tower. I recollect Mr. Bayne" gave a curious tradition 
relative to the origin of this singular structure. 

A certain Bishop, or Archbishop, of Mayence had 
gathered a large quantity of corn, which he refused to 
distribute to his starving parishioners during a great 
scarcity of bread. As a judgment upon his parsimony, 
the rats and mice invaded his granaries, ate his corn, 
poured into his dwelling, and forced him to fly. Wherever 
he stopped his enemies were upon him, until, at last, he 
built this tower upon the rocks of the Bingerloch, whither 
he retired. But in vain ! his tormentors scented his track, 
and the tower swarmed with them. He died of grief; and 
the tower remains a monument of his folly. This is the 
poetry of it — the prose is this : The Archbishop of May- 
ence levied tolls on all vessels passing this point, and this 
29 



388 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

tower was probably erected as a toll-house I It was after- 
ward mounted with guns called mousserie, and hence its 
^Skme, Mousetower. 

There can be no question but that, at some past period, 
the Niagara of the Rhine was at this point. These rocks 
obstructed the course of the river, and rolled back its 
waters into the vast plain above Mayence, which, in a 
former letter, I suggested as having been the basin of an 
immense lake. All the appearances are in favor of the 
hypothesis. The banks of the river, for miles below 
Bingen, bear a^^^strong resemblance to those of the Niagara 
river from the falls down to Queenstown heights. The falls 
hefe^ as there, must have gradually receded, until the rock 
was worn away, and the loose soil above Bingen offered no 
resistance to the water. It must have been a noble cata- 
ract. Perhaps Abraham, and David, and Solomon, trav- 
elled here to see the falls of the Rhine ! Such changes 
have been wrought by the action of water upon the face of 
the earth. A hundred years from now, and wheat will be 
seen growing on the plains of Erie, now the bed of that 
majestic lake. That river, which has worn away at least 
.nine miles of solid rock, has but half a mile more to ex- 
cavate, and the work is done ! Haste, then, ye European 
sight-seekers, to visit the falls of Niagara ! 

Near this place, and just above, are the villa and castle 
of Johannishurg , situated on a high conical hill, sloping off 
gradually to the Rhine. The whole slope, containing 
about one hundred acres, is covered with flourishing vines. 



RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 3'39 

There are here the ruins of an old priory, founded in 1109, 
by Rutland II., archbishop of Mayence. The Swedes 
destroyed the buildings in the " thirty years' war." The 
Johannisburg wines are the best made in the country, and 
I noticed on the " carte des wV?5," presented at the dinner 
table, these wines are nearly double the price of others. 
This estate was given, in 1816, to one of the greatest 
scamps unwhipped of justice, Prince Metternich, by his 
patron, the emperor of Austria. 

A short distance below Bingen we reached the little 
village of Gaub, and, just back of the village, are the 
ruins of the castle of Gutenfels, one of the finest ruins on 
the river. It takes its name from the countess Guda, 
( Gutenfels, rock of Guda^) a woman whose great beauty 
made her a favorite of the emperor Richard. 

Opposite Caub, and in the centre of the river, is an old 
ruin, but whether castle, palace, light-house, or toll-house, 
none can say. Tradition invests it with interest. A room 
is shown in a tower where the wives of the Counts of the 
Palatinates came to lie in. At this point the Prussian and 
Russian armies crossed the river, January 1, 1814. 

St. Gear now comes into view, a grand ruin. In 
the distance are the ruins of the old fort of Rhein- 
fels, blown up by the French in 1748. Close by is 
an enormous rock, called Luleyherg, where a wonderful 
echo repeats a sound jive times. A gun was fired from 
the deck of our steamer, and we heard the reports of five 
guns in different positions. Tradition attaches to this spot 



340 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

a fair sprite named Lurly. The Rhine boatmen always 
invoke her, on passing, and she always answers, Lurly. 

Just below this, two curious old ruins are seen about three 
hundred feet apart, and situated on a fearful crag. They 
are Leihenstein and Sternberg, usually known as " die 
bruder," — the brothers. They once belonged to an old 
nobleman who had two sons, and a beautiful ward, of whom 
both were greatly enamoured. The elder, seeing that the 
young lady preferred his brother, left, and retired to 
Rhense, to avoid the sight of the attractive beauty. 
Before the marriage could take place, the crusades com- 
menced, and the young bridegroom went to Frankfort, and 
enlisted under the banner of the cross. Soon after he had 
left, the old man died, and the elder brother returned to take 
possession of the estate ; but, instead of taking advantage 
of the absence of one of the guardians, and the death of 
the other, he treated the young lady as a sister. Two 
years passed, and the crusader returned, bringing with him 
a beautiful Grecian lady, to whom he was betrothed. The 
elder brother, enraged at his faithlessness, sent him a chal- 
lenge to mortal combat; but the tears of the broken- 
hearted lady prevented a meeting. She retired to the con- 
vent of Marienherg, the ruins of which you see nearly 
opposite, and shut herself out from the world. The con- 
vent of JBornhoffen, at the foot of the hill on which these 
ruins are, was founded with the estate of the poor lady. 
My readers will ask, " do you believe this ? " I answer, 
the ballad says so, and do you suppose poets will lie ? 



KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 841 

All the ruins on this wonderful river, — wonderful only 
because of such ruins, — cannot be described in a passing 
letter. Every bend in the river, — and these are numer- 
ous as those in the Mississippi, — discloses a new view 
and an additional ruin. It is intoxicating to gaze on such 
pictures, and to go back to the time when every castle 
was alive with the stir and tumult of wars, of sieges, 
and forays. Nature, art, and history here blend their 
beauties. 

" Streams and dells, 
Fruit, foliage, crag, wood, corn-field, mountain, vine, 
And chiefless castles, breathing stern farewells 
From gray, but leafy walls, where ruin grimly dwells." 

" And there they stand, as stands a lofty mind, 
Worn, but unstooping to the baser crowd, 
All tenantless, save to the crannying wind , 
Or, holding dark communion with the cloud ; 
There was a day when they were young and proud, 
Banners on high, and battles passed below : 
But they who fought are in a bloody shroud. 
And those which waved are shredless dust ere now ; 
And the bleak battlements shall bear no future blow." 

We soon came in sight of CoUentz, situated on a point 
of land at the junction of the river Moselle with the 
Rhine. A bridge of boats crosses the river here, through 
which we passed by unmooring some of them, and thus 
opening a passage. This city is on the left hand descend- 
ing, and lies on a level plain, so as not to show well from 
i9* 



342 E AMBLES IN EUROPE. 

the river. It contains only about eleven thousand inhab- 
itants ; but one would imagine them to be very religious, 
judging from the number of steeples rising over the city. 
Opposite is the truly magnificent castle of Ehreribreit- 
stein, on a high bluff, &teep on the river side, and 
reached by a winding way. This is the grandest cas- 
tle and fortification on the river. It is not what it was 
when Childe Harold passed, in a rhyming mood, up the 
Rhine, raising the very dead by his fervid imagination, and 
touching these old grey ruins with his magic wand, until 
they shook, and smoked, and thundered again, as of yore. 

^ Here Ehrenbreitstein, with her shattered wall, 
Black with the miner's blast, upon her height 
Yet shows of what she was, when shell and ball, 
Rebounding idly, on her strength did light, — 
A tower of victory ! from whence the flight 

- Of baffled foes was watched along the plain ; 
But peace destroyed what war could never blight. 
And laid those proud roofs bare to summer rain, 
On which the iron shower for years had poured in vain." 

The Romans built a strong fort on this elevation in the 
time of Julian. A successor of the apostles, (!) archbishop 
Hillinus, erected a fort in 160. Subsequently, the 
elector, John of Baden, repaired and enlarged the for- 
tifications, and cut a well in the solid rock, two hundred 
and eighty feet in depth, and, after spending three years in 
this work, it had to be sunk three hundred feet lower, to 
gecuro a sure supply of water. The famous cannon called 



RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 343 

** the Griffin," weighing ten tons, and throwing a "ball of 
one hundred and sixty pounds weight, was placed here. 
The French took this gun to Metz when they got possession 
of this stronghold, and blew it up at the conclusion of the 
war of 1798. 

The castle now belongs to the King of Prussia, who has 
expended two million five hundred thousand dollars, which 
he has forced from his poor people, in putting it into a state 
of perfect repair. Its strength is greater than ever before. 
Close by is a monument erected by the French to com- 
memorate the Russian campaign of 1812, It is now 
turned into a standing johe ; for when the Russians, under 
Alexander, were on their way to Paris, in 1814, to rein- 
, state the Bourbons, they, instead of demolishing the 
monument, just quietly cut, under the French inscription, 
this sentence : ' ' Seen and approved by the Russian com- 
mander, at Coblentz, in 1814." There is here a monu- 
ment to the French general, Marceau, who fell here in the 
war of the French revolution, the inscription says, " on 
the last day of the fourth year of the French Republic." 
General Hoche also has a monument here. But why speak 
of these solitary shafts ? Every stone, and crag, and hill, 
commemorates deeds of blood, and heroes who have 
fought for and against humanity. 

" Beneath these battlements, within these walls, 
Power dwelt amidst her passions. In proud state, 
Each robber chief upheld his armed halls, 
Doinar his evil will." 



344 RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

" In their baronial feuds and single fields, 
What deeds of prowess unrecorded died; 
And many a tower, for some wild mischief won, 
Saw the discolored Rhine beneath its ruins run." 

From Coblentz (^Confluence, from its situation at the 
union of two rivers) to Cologne was a run of a few hours ; 
but it has the interest of centuries. Numerous islands are 
passed, on many of which the mistaken rulers of the 
church caused to be built abbeys and nunneries for lazy 
priests and love-sick girls, who desired to retire from the 
world — a practice at once foolish and wicked. That queer 
sheet, the London Punch, well hits off this custom, intend- 
ing a thrust at the Puseyite tendencies of the Church of 
England. 

"What's the matter with my darling ? " says a grand- 
mother to her little granddaughter, who has left her play- 
things, — a hollow globe, a stuffed doll, &c., — on the 
floor. 

" Why, grandmother," says the little devotee in frock 
and pantalettes, *' after mature deliberation I have come to 
the conclusion that the world is empty, and my doll is 
stuffed with bran ; and I want to go to a nunnery." 

We marked the ruins of an old convent at Andernach, 
close by the river. This was an old Roman tower. The 
kings of the Franks built a palace here, and caught fish in 
the Rhine from its windows ; but the course of the river 



KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 345 

has changed, and a long rod would now be necessary to 
reach the river from its ruins. 

A curious fact connected with this place is that the hest 
mill-stones in the world are cut from the mountains here, 
and sent to America, to grind the corn of the new world- 
Siegfried, count palatine of the Rhine, resided here. 
On his return from a crusade to Palestine, the slanders of 
a scoundrel — a kind of a Potiphar's wife in pants, no 
doubt — induced him to banish his wife, the beautiful 
Grenofeva, from this palace. The injured woman wandered 
into the neighboring forests, where, by the side of a lake, 
she gave birth to a son. For years she lived in this 
retreat. One day the count, in a hunting excursion, came 
upon her cabin ; astonished to find her living, and so 
strangely preserved by Providence, he heard her justification, 
took her back to his castle, pitched the scamp, Golo, from 
his castle into the river, and they there lived till they died 
in happiness. If your readers will procure, if they can 
find one, a copy of the " Rhine ballads," an old work, 
they will become as wisp as your correspondent in such 
lore, and believe as much of them as they please ; though 
I see no good reason for rejecting the story. Indeed, there 
is reason to believe it ; for the Church of Rome canonized 
Genofeva, and she has her day among other saints, and is 
prayed unto to this day. That devout Catholic yonder, 
dripping with wet from the heavy rain, and telling her 
beads, may be now saying, " St. G-enofeva, stop this rain." 
I wish she would. 



346 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

The river becomes wider here, and the bluffs recede. 
We shut off steam at Rolandseck, and had a fine view of 
the castle ruins on the hill, and of the island and old con- 
vent of Nonnenwerth. This is a large island near the left 
shore, and the bluff rises abruptly above it, on a point 
made by a bend in the river. The convent is a large, old 
pile, and in a tolerable state of repair. The island con- 
tains one hundred and sixty acres. One could almost 
toss a ball from the ruins of the castle upon the top 
of the old convent. This castle was built by the cele- 
brated Paladin Roland, the nephew of Charlemagne ; 
and it was on this wise, so says the poet, and I believe 
him. He had gone to Palestine, as a crusader, under 
betrothal to the beautiful Hildegart. It was reported, by 
some who returned, that Roland had been slain by the 
Saracens in the Holy Land. Hildegart, crediting the 
rumor, immediately took the .veil, and entered the convent 
of Nonnenwerth on the island yonder. Roland returned 
to the Rhine, and found his love separated from him for 
ever. The monks had turned the key upon her, and 
would not give up so fair a prize. The stricken count 
built the castle on the top of yonder rock, overlooking 
the convent, and sat day by day, for two years, gazing 
upon the grim walls which contained the idol of bis 
heart. One day, as he sat gazing upon the convent, 
" with worn and weary eyes," the tones of a "passing 
bell " smote his ear; he looked, and in the garden of the 
convent he saw some persons digging a grave. Fear whis- 



KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 347 

pered, ''it is for Hildegart!" It was true. He watched 
the funeral procession, saw her laid in her grave, listened 
to the chanting of the requiem over her body, and the next 
morning his attendants found him sitting in his usual seat 
— dead, his eyes still turned towards the convent. You 
must read this beautiful story as we did, with all the 
scenery before your eyes, to feel the poetry of it. You 
will drop a tear to the memory of "Roland and 
Hildegart." 

We now come to the last point of interest on the Rhine 
before reaching Cologne — the "Seven Mountains." They 
crowd up close to the river, narrowing its channel, through 
which its waters pour with increased swiftness. 

This is a pile of rough and ragged hills, sprinkled over 
with ruins. The highest peak is the Drachenfels, or 
" dragon's rock,'''' On the summit are the ruins of a 
castle, beautiful in the distance. To the Emperor Yalen- 
tinian these mountains are indebted for the ornaments 
crowning their summits. It is said he built many of the 
castles in the year 368. 

Byron has immortalized this spot by those fine lines—- 

" The castled crag of DracKenfels 
Frowns o'er the wide and winding Rhine, 

Whose breast of waters broadly swells 
Between the banks which bear the vine." 

The lofty mountain called the Stromburg, called also 



348 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

St. Petersburg^ from a chapel once built and dedicated to 
St. Peter, rises before us. .1 must give one more legend 
connected with this mount, and then we shall close the hook 
of -poetry and take to prose again. 

Sir Dietrich of Schwarzenech, on his way to join the 
army of crusaders at Spires, passed a night at Argenfels, 
or Okkenfels, the ruins of which are seen a short distance 
above this place. The old Burggraf, the proprietor of the 
castle, had two daughters. The younger, Bertha, made a 
strong impression upon the knight. In a battle with the 
Saracens, the knight was wounded and taken prisoner. 
During his captivity he vowed a chapel to St. Peter if he 
should be freed. Of course, after a vow like this, chains 
could hold him no longer. The Christian army stormed 
the place of his confinement, and set him at liberty. He 
hastened home, and sought the towers of Argenfels. Alas ! 
they were in ruins ! During his absence, the castle had 
been stormed, the old Burggraf slain, and the daughters 
had fled ; whither, no one could tell. A sad pickle for a 
lover. An old shepherd at last informed him that the 
alarmed maidens had concealed themselves in a hermitage 
on the summit of the Stromburg . 

He soon found them, and the maiden Bertha became 
Lady of Schwarzeneck. But now comes the pathetic part 
of the story. The eldest maiden could not be persuaded 
to leave the hermitage on the mountain. It is supposed 
she also loved the knight ; but 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 349 

" She never told her love, 
But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, 
Feed on her damask cheek," 

until at last she died ; and we were informed we might see 
her grave by climbing to the top of the Stromburg ! Be 
that as it may, we should see the chapel, or its ruins, 
which the knight built, in fulfilment of his vow, and as a 
refuge for the disconsolate lady. 

The valley of the Rhine spreads out to a great extent 
from this point down to Cologne, and the range of hills 
are seen lying far back from the river ; and the tourist 
must leave the river, in order to see and enjoy many inter- 
esting situations, and take to his feet, or some public 
conveyance. 

We passed the beautiful city of Bonn, lying upon the 
river, and containing twelve thousand inhabitants. This is 
an old city, and was first planted by a colony of Ubii. 
A strong castle was here built by the Romans, and enlarged 
by Julian. They called it Banna. The castle is now 
used by the university, and as it contains schools of medi- 
cine and surgery, a lying-in hospital, a fine library, and a 
great collection of antiquities, it is a great place of resort 
for students and others. Our friend Br. M'Clintock 
informed me in Paris that he intended taking up his 
residence here for a year, to restore his health. 

We passed an immense raft of lumber from the upper 
Rhine, covering many acres of water, and saanaged by 
nearly one hundred men. It is said the value of a single 
30 



350 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

raft is often one hundred and fifty thousand dollars ! They 
are usually eight or ten hundred feet in length, and from 
eighty to one hundred feet in breadth. On this vast plat- 
form are erected some twelve or fifteen houses; the order of 
this country being still kept up, by having a much better 
cabin for the lord of the raft. It is said there are some- 
times as many as nine hundred workmen on a single raft. 
I will not vouch for this ; I prefer to guarantee all the 
legends of the Rhine ! The timber is oak and fir. The 
bottom is formed of long trees placed in rows, and con- 
nected by shorter ones placed across. These are firs, 
because more buoyant. This base is bound together by 
iron clamps. These trees are used for masts by the 
Dutch. The cavities in the bottom are all filled with 
small wood. Then is added another range of timber con- 
fined to the first, and so on ; all the interstices being care- 
fully filled in with small wood. Across the ends are 
placed some stout trunks of trees to resist the shock should 
they run into some of the old castles on the Rhine, or 
ruins under water. Such a raft draws six or eight feet of 
■jvater, and I sliould think one of them might cross the 
Atlantic Ocean. On either side of the main raft are 
snjaller ones, called hntes^, which serve to direct the course 
of the raft. Still smaller ones are also attached, called 
anhenge ; the object is to prevent the main body from 
running on to the shoals or sand bars ; a kind of forlorn 
hope, or like feelers to a lobster. A number of boats, with 
cables and anchors, and for sounding and going ashore, 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 351 

accompany tlie monster as lie floats on. The houses are 
neat and convenient ; the master's having two apartments 
with an open court. I did not observe any Prussian or 
Austrian soldiers on the one I saw. At one end is the 
dining saloon, and close by the kitchen. When the meal 
is ready, a basket is raised to the top of a pole, and each 
takes his wooden bowl. A quantity of provisions is 
required to fit out a raft on the Rhine equal, almost, to 
fitting out a seventy-four gun ship for a cruise. Of course y 
the whole cannot be taken at once, but is procured on the 
way. For instance, forty thousand pounds of bread ; 
twenty thousand pounds of fresh meat ; one thousand 
pounds of dried meat ; twelve thousand pounds of cheese ; 
one thousand five hundred pounds of butter ; forty sacks 
of dried vegetables ; one hundred and eight thousand 
bottles of beer; ten thousand eight hundred bottles of 
wine ! Live stock is on the raft, and butchers are among 
the company. No mention is made of tobacco ; but I 
should judge, at the usual rate of smoking here, about one 
thousand hogsheads would answer. Great skill is requisite , 
to conduct such a cumbrous mass to its destination, and for 
many years the secret was with a man of Rudesheim and 
his sons. The timber is sold at Dordrecht, and scattered 
over the world. 

As there is nothing of interest to be seen on the river 
below Cologne, we left the steamer here, and took a little 
time to visit this great city. 

Cologne, or Coin as it is here spelled, lies upon the left 



352 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

of the Rhine, descending. The river here makes a curve, 
and the city lies in the form of a crescent, and is nearly 
three miles in extent on the river. 

The original of this city was an entrenched camp of the 
Romans by Marcus Agrippa ; and this camp formed the 
capital of the Ubians, who first lived on the right bank of 
the Rhine, and afterward moved to the other side under 
Agrippa. It was afterwards enlarged by a Roman colony 
which the Emperor Claudius sent here to please his wife 
Agrippina, and from her it took the name of Colonia 
Agrippina. Yitellus was proclaimed Emperor here, by 
the army of the Rhine, and Trojan once filled the office of 
imperial legate here. Sylvanus was here proclaimed Em- 
peror, and assassinated on the spot where the church of St. 
Severen now stands. The remains of the old Roman walls 
are still seen. We stood before a wall built twenty-seven 
years before the birth of Christ ; it was the oldest work of 
man we had seen — the next object of interest to us just 
then would have been the Pyramids of Egypt ! Over a 
gate in this wall, called by the Romans Porta Flammea, is 
this inscription : C. C. A. A., (Colonia Claudia Agrip- 
pina Augusta.) There are many portions of the old wall 
gtill in existence. 

Constantine erected a stone bridge over the Rhine here, 
and when the water is low the remains of the foundation 
may still be seen ; but, as the water was high, we did not 
see them. 

The first bishop of Cologne was Matenms, appointed 



RAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 353 

by Constantlne, about the year 314. With the increasing 
pride and power of the church, the privileges of the 
bishopric increased, and in 745 it was raised to the dignity 
of an archbishopric, and the whole region came under the 
sway of the archbishop. But since 1263 they have 
resided at Bonn, because of some difficulty with the inhab- 
itants, who refused to submit wholly to the sway of priests, 
as their city was an imperial city. It is related that one 
archbishop, the incumbent between 1577 and 1583, turned 
Protestant, having fallen in love with the beautiful Count- 
ess of Mansfeld, whom he married in spite of the Pope 
and the canon ! His name was Gehhard, a count and 
elector as well as archbishop. The Papists say he married 
a nun by the name of Agnes, and carried her off from a 
convent ; but this is a tale of policy. Pope Grregory 
XIII. deprived him of his dignity, and commanded one of 
the sons of the church to go and destroy him. He took 
refuge in the castle of Godeshurg, just above Bonn, where 
he was besieged by Ernest, Duke of Bavaria ; the castle was 
taken and blown up in 1593. What became of Gehhard 
and his wife I did not learn ; but it is not difficult to 
imagine their end if they fell into the hands of the Pope^ 
aregory XIII. ! 

Cologne has now about ninety-five thousand inhabitants ; 
but it had, in the days of its prosperity, at least one hun- 
dred and fifty thousand, and could muster thirty thousand 
armed men. 

The appearance of the city is not striking, as it lies in a 
30* 



354 BAMBLES m EUEOPE, 

plain, and is not seen to good advantage. Like all 
Catholic cities, it has suffered from the government of 
popes and priests, the parasites of earth. On St. Bar- 
tholomew's day, 1425, the Jews were driven from the city. 
Some years after, in consequence of some disturbance, the 
magistrates caused seventeen hundred looms to be burnt, 
and the weavers left the city, and removed to Aix-la- 
Chappelle, and other places, and established cloth manu- 
factures. In 1618 all Protestants were banished from the 
town, and more than fourteen hundred houses were left 
tenaatkss- The French took and incorporated the city 
with the empire in 1795. The Russians took it in 1814, 
and gave it to Prussia as an indemnification, in part, for 
losses and whippings endured from the French. The city 
is not cleanly and enterprising in its appearance, but looks 
like a soulless and decaying body. And, though it is an 
immense Cologne bottle, it certainly, from the scents we 
encountered, is kept well corked J 

There were some objects of interest we wished to see, and 
which we visited. 

The Church of St. Mary, in the place where the 
Roman Capitol originally stood, was one of these curiosi- 
ties. Its appearance is antique in the extreme. It was 
founded by Plectrude, wife of Pepin, and mother of 
Charles Martel. She was buried here, and her tomb is in 
front of the choir in the church. A statue of this woman 
is to be seen on the wall behind the choir. 

Near by is the convent, once connected with this church, 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 355 

and interestino; as the scene of the last bitter hours of 
Mary de Medici, wife of Henry IV., and mother of Louis 
XTII., who was driven from Paris by the arch fiend 
Richelieu. 

From here we went to the House where the celebrated 
painter, Rubens, was born — No. 10, rue de Tivol. The 
above named queen resided for some time in this house, 
and in the front room of the ground floor, on the right as 
you enter, she died. What visions filled that room in that 
hour? We could but say, "Let me die the death of 
the righteous ; let my last end be like his." In that same 
room, Rubens was born. A tea garden is now kept here, 
for the refreshment of the numerous visitors who crowd the 
place. 

The cathedral, of course, we must see ; but I cannot 
describe it. Your readers are aware that this great curiosity 
was never finished ; and I think I am safe in saying that it 
never will be, though workmen are now employed upon the 
unfinished tower. Few of these great works are finished. 
From 1248 to 1499 the workmen continued the work, and 
yet did not complete it. It was intended to carry up the 
two front towers five hundred feet; one of them is 
about two hundred and fifty feet in height, and the other, 
upon which the workmen were employed, is about thirty 
feet from the ground. A bell is in the first named 
tower, which weighs twenty-five thousand pounds. On 
the summit of the tower you see the same old wooden 
crane used in hoisting the stone almost, or quite, six huodred 



356 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

years ago. When the workmen "knocked off" that day, in 
1499, because the money was out and St. Peter was poor, 
they left the gear just as it was. I recollect an incident of 
which I was reminded by the sight of that old crane, and 
which our Longfellow has woven into his poem of Evange- 
line, with a little alteration, substituting the statue of 
Justice for the old crane. 

" It chanced, in a nobleman's palace, 
That a necklace of pearls was lost, and, ere long, suspicion 
Fell on an orphan girl, Avho lived as a maid in the household. 
She, after form of trial, was condemned to die on the scaffold." 

Well, she died ; and some little time after, a terrible storm 
threw down a part of this old machinery, and with it the 
nest of a magpie, in which was the lost necklace I But it 
could not bring back the poor girl. I have " made note " 
of this as an argument against capital punishment. 

As you enter this great structure you seem to be in a 
forest of stone columns. Four rows of sixty-four columns 
are standing around you ; the middle ones are thirty feet 
in circumference ! Altogether, there are one hundred 
columns ; and each is surmounted by a chapiter different 
from the others. The roof is not finished, but covered with 
wood, and slated. 

The choir alone is done, and it is superb. 

The tomb of "the three kings," or wise men who 
worshipped our Saviour, is here, and their bones are shown 
with great devotion. Frederick I. presented them to the 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 357 

Ardiblshop of Cologne, as a remuneration for his services 
in assisting to take and utterly destroy the city of Milan, 
butchering men, women, and children ! 

We would not gratify the Sacristan so much as to ask 
to see the relics. These skulls were originally crowned 
with crowns of solid gold, weighing six pounds each ; hut 
some of the roguish archbishops who wanted money, and 
had not the fear of relics before their eyes, took the gold 
and left gilt. It is just as well, as the gold could be of 
more use than lying here ; and it was acting upon the 
policy of Napoleon, who, when he took the twelve silver 
statues of the apostles from Florence, I think, and coined 
them into francs, remarked, '' I will set these apostles to 
itinerating." 

We left the Cathedral, and hurried off to find the town 
house of Cologne, which is considered one of the most curious 
of antique relics. Its front is a white marble gateway, with 
two fine arches, one above the other, like a double rainbow. 
The upper is of Roman, and the under of Corinthian style 
of architecture. The space between is filled with curious 
bas reliefs ; the whole surmounted by a tower of most sin- 
gular construction. Its age no one knows. 

" Drive us to Jean Marie Farina's cologne establish- 
ment," said we to our driver. " Yah," said he, and soon 
drew up before a shop filled with bottles of the water. 
" This is not it," said one of the company who happened 
to know; and away went "whip" to another. But 



358 EAMBLES IN EUEOPE. 

neither was this it. " Gro to the Place de Julie;" off 
again, and soon we came to another, where we dismounted, 
and purchased some bottles of the " original distiller of the 
eau-de-Cologne," but it was as uncertain as the identity 
of Catholic relics. There are in this city some twenty 
'* original manufacturers of the eau-de-Cologne." 

At half-past six, P.M., we took the cars for Aix-la- 
Chappelle, or Aachen, as the Grermans call it, leaving the 
Rhine behind us, probably, for aye. 

" Adieu to thee, fair Rhine — a vain adieu ! 
There can be no farewell to scene like thine ; 
The mind is colored by thy every hue ; 
And if, reluctantly, the eyes resign 
Their cherished gaze upon thee, lovely Ehine, 
' Tis with the thankful glance of parting praise. 
More mighty spots may rise, more glaring shine, 
But none unite, in one attaching maze, 
The brilliant, fair, and soft, — the glories of old days ! " 

Two hours' ride, over a flat, uninteresting country, with 
a car full of smoke and Dutchmen, brought us to this old 
and interesting city, where we purposed spending the 
Sabbath. It was near nine o'clock when we were "set 
down at the Grand Hotel, deceived by our lying cab- 
driver, as we soon found that the hotel we intended to stop 
at, and where we expected to meet some friends, was in 
another q[uarter of the city. That was the Grand Hotels 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 359 

par excellence ; this had another title prefixed. However, 
it was a quiet place, and we wanted to be quiet on the 
holy Sabbath. 

This is one of the oldest and most interesting of the 
cities of this part of Europe. It was built by the Romans, 
who were doubtless attracted by the hot springs which 
abound here. In 451 the Huns destroyed the city ; but it 
was rebuilt by Charlemagne, who resided here. Formerly 
the Emperors of Glermany were crowned here with great 
parade. It was, in the days of its pomp and power, a city 
of one hundred thousand inhabitants; but, at present, it 
has but forty-six thousand. It is a place of extensive 
manufactures of cloth, pins, and needles. The ladies will 
remember that the " fine Chappelle needles, ^^ which are 
plied by their fingers, are manufactured here. 

In the days of Napoleon's glory, he, at one time, held 
his court here, and gathered around him all the beauty and 
chivalry of France and Grermany. The star of Josephine 
was then in the ascendant, and she was here the presiding 
genius of the place, — 

" The glass of fashion, and the mould of form." 

But one feels, here, that those days of glory, ambition, and 
pleasure, are gone, and the actors in those scenes have left 
the stage. It is a Catholic city, with but one place of 
Protestant worship that we heard of. 

The old wall of the city is seen in many places. The 



360 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

city is divided into two parts : the old, or part within the old 
wall, and the new, or part without. 

The great attraction here are the warm sulphur baths, 
and other mineral waters. The old iron-sided Romans 
must have been struck with astonishment when, coming into 
this plain, they found themselves in a region of steam ! 
Multitudes crowd this city to drink the waters ; thirty-six 
thousand persons were here, during one season, not long 
since. 

We rose early Sabbath morning, and walked up to one 
of the springs, in the centre of the city, to try the waters. 
A large building is erected over the spring, with a hand- 
some colonnade in front, and on one side a refreshment 
room. Two flights of stairs lead down to the spring, 
about twelve or fifteen feet below the level of the street. 
The water pours out from a spout into a marble basin, 
while a cloud of steam rises from its surface. Two girls 
stand by the fount with tumblers, and dip up and serve the 
water to the visitors. This is a regulation of the city for 
the benefit of the inhabitants. No charge is made here for 
the water. And now there was a constant stream of 
" lame, halt, blind," withered, and spleeny, passing down 
one flight of steps, drinking, and up the other. The 
Naiads were kept busy, with bare arms, and covered with 
steam and perspiration. It was a scene for Hogarth ! We 
went down and took the proffered cup of Q2i\x-^Q-brimstone. 
Bah ! I seem to taste it yet I I imagined the roguish maid 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 361 

smiled as she gave me the cup, as if to say " nectar." 
Imagine water, just hot enough to be swallowed comfort- 
ably, with a strong infusion of gunpowder. One can 
almost believe it bubbles up from that place where the 
leader of the rebellious host dug up 

"Sulphurous and nitrous foam, 
Concocted and adjusted, and reduced 
To blackest grain." 

I know not that I derived any special benefit from the- use 
of the water. 

"We learned that a small English chapel existed in the 
place, and that service would be held there at half-past ten 
o'clock. We attended there at the hour, and heard a good 
sermon. There was a congregation of from fifty to seventy- 
five, principally English. It is astonishing what numbers 
of Englishmen are met at all these places. Some for plea- 
sure, some from ennui at home, some for health, and some 
because they find it " convenient to live abroad" for a 
season,— in other words, they are in debt, and can live 
cheaper on the continent than at home. 

At one o'clock we attended high mass in the old and 
grand cathedral built by the Emperor Otho, in 983, and in 
which he was crowned. His dust lies under the altar. It 
has a magnificent dome, directly under which is a large 
slab of black marble, on which you read 

"Carolo Magno." 
31 



362 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

I pushed my way through the dense crowd, and stood on 
the tomb of Charlemagne ! This tomh was opened during 
the reign of Otho, and the great monarch was discovered, 
clothed in royal robes, and adorned with the insignia of the 
Empire, sitting in a marble chair. On his knees lay open 
a copy of the gospels, in gold binding, and a piece of the 
true cross upon his head ! The insignia Otho took away, 
to be used in crowning the future Emperors. 

Charlemagne died here, where he was born, in 814. In 
1165, Frederick I. opened the tomb again, and the body 
was placed in a superb sarcophagus. This fine antique was 
stolen by the French, when they held this city, and taken 
to the Louvre; but the ** Allies" forced them to return 
it again to the church. 

The choir of this church is the most beautiful of any we 
have seen, — purely Grothic. The French carried oft' the 
splendid columns once in the choir, but some of them have 
been restored. The grand organ which is here was given 
by Napoleon. Grold plates ornament the pulpit, and ivory 
and precious stones are scattered about in profusion. Over 
all, the Virgin Mary, the object of the adoration of the 
idolaters, drops her rich drapery, while the image of Christ 
is quite an obscure and secondary matter. I listened to 
the unearthly sounds of the chanting priests, and looked 
upon the foolery of the so-called worship, until I could 
endure it no longer, and left. 

This church is rich in relics, before even the Lateran, or 
St. Peter's at Rome. Only imagine the treasure. The 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 363 

swaddling clothes and the winding sheet of Christ ; the 
rohe of the Virgui, and the shroud of John the Baptist ; 
some of the manna which fell in the wilderness ; the 
leather girdle of Christ; the Virgin's hair; some of the 
true cross ; the scull and arm of Charles the Great ; a 
piece of the cord with which the Saviour was bound ; and 
some others. The first named articles are kept in a shrine 
of solid gold. They are exhibited once in seven years, 
from the 10th to the 24th of July, and then all Germany 
pours into the city, and devotees .from all parts of Catholic 
Europe. Strangers now, however, may see the whole col- 
lection, by expressing a desire, and paying well for it. I 
did not wish to see them. Two classes of gew-gaws I had 
no desire to see — crowned heads and relics. I could not 
respect the first, nor believe in the last, if my salvation 
hung upon it. And I cannot believe that the exhibitors of 
this nonsense (I do not mean crowned heads !) have the 
least confidence in their genuineness. The poor, unlettered 
and abused people may believe in them, and this faith is 
the greatest reproach that can rest upon their rulers and 
priests. 

When the French approached the city, in 1798, these 
relics were hurried away into the interior of Germany, and 
given into the custody of the Emperor ; and when the war 
was over, and the articles demanded again, he retained 
some of them to remunerate him for his pious care. 
The sword of Charlemagne, some of the earth stained with 



864 EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

the blood of Stephen, and a copy of the gospel m letters of 
gold, were among them. 

These real curioBities we would have seen, had it not 
been on the Sabbath. The robes worn by Pope Leo III. 
when he consecrated the church. St. Barnard's robe, 
worn when he performed service here. A gold crown, with 
precious stones, given to the Virgin Mary by Mary, 
Queen of Scots, and other things. 

The walks around the city are very fine, among the tall 
and beautiful trees, and smooth promenades. But the 
people are poor, wretched-looking creatures. Oppression 
sits like an incubus upon the old world ; the people cannot 
rise ; discouraged, and without ambition, they try just to 
keep soul and body together, and drag out an existence 
which is only a burden. 

The scenery around this city is beautiful. You have 
left the valley of the Rhine ; and now, hills, and dales, and 
flowery meads, meet the eye. Hot springs break out all 
around you ; and, a few miles from the city, we are told, a 
rivulet runs through a valley, quite hot ; of course, the Jish 
in it are ready cooked ! 

On a hill, close by the city. Napoleon caused a monu- 
ment to be erected to his glory. When the French troops 
were driven out of this country, the Cossacks overturned it, 
and dug up the foundations to secure the coins placed 
under it. The king of Prussia, to whom this city now 
belongs, replaced the obelisk, but effaced the original 
inscription, and recorded the conqueror's defeat and ruin. 



EAMBLES IN EUROPE. 365 

It would not be strange if " some future looker-on in Aix " 
should record, "the emperor of France has caused to be 
restored the original inscription of Napoleon, erased by the 
King of Prussia in 1815." So great and sudden are the 
changes of earth. 

31* 



LETTER XXXI. 



LivEEPooL, August 30, 1850. 

Friend S : 

We have returned unexpectedly to the point from 
whence we started. Our intention was to go to Bremen, 
and sail from that port for New York. But the next 
steamer did not sail until the twentieth of this month, and 
we could not spend the time. We therefore wrote from 
Grermany, and engaged passage in one of the Cunard line, 
the Asia, which sails to-day. I must go hack and bring 
you up to this time, hastily. We had spent a very 
pleasant day in the old and decayed city of Aix, among its 
interesting reminiscences, and its boiling springs and 
hissing vapors, and now we were glad to be on our way to 
the clime of old England, from which to embark for the 
land of lands! We left in the ^' waggons ^^ at nine 
o'clock, A. M., for Ostend, which we reached at six, P. M. 
We purposed to stop at no place until we reached London ; 
366 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 367 

and, of course, all we could see was the face of tlie coun- 
try, througli which we were whirled at the rate of thirty miles 
per hour. The traveller, who would see the old towns and 
interesting points in this region, must leave the railroad, 
and take to his feet, or a post-chaise. The engineers who 
laid out this road had no eye to the gratification of tourists, 
but went straight on to the mark, through hills, across 
plains, over rivers, and under cities ; you glance at the 
country, and it is gone. 

Leaving Aix, we soon passed from Prussian Grermany 
into the kingdom of Belgium, or what was formerly called 
the Netherlands, or loio lands, and rightly named ; for, 
with the exception of a few hours' ride from Aix, it is a 
dead level, and, at no very distant period, no doubt, was 
submerged. 

Our first stop of importance was at Liege, on the river 
Meuse, a town of about forty thousand inhabitants. The 
scenery here is beautiful ; the river is divided by numerous 
islands, and the country bordering the river is hilly, pre- 
senting all the picturesque beauty and wildness of some 
parts of the Rhine. Some little distance back, I observed 
the lamps in the cars were lit up, and was about conclud- 
ing it was for the accommodation of the inveterate smokers, 
when suddenly we plunged into a tunnel ; and anon into 
another and another, so that for a long distance it was a 
road of tunnels ; and but for the precaution of lighting the 
lamps we should have been much of the time in total 
darkness. 



868 GAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

Our company was a motley mass of all people, and 
languages, and habits. The Grermans lit their pipes and 
commenced smoking as soon as we started. Some drunken 
Englishmen drank brandy, and *' swore terribly " in the 
Netherlands, if not in Flanders ; and the four Yankees 
took notes and endured the nuisances as well as they could. 
You may now bid adieu to interesting scenery, take your 
last view of mountain, and hill, and castled crag, for you 
will see no more until you see the sublime elevations of 
Wales. We dash into a land of dykes, and canals, and 
stagnant water, with occasional points of interest to break 
the monotony of the scene. Now you pass a noble man- 
sion of some Belgian grandee ; then you thunder along by 
an elegant paved Mghivay, flanked by magnificent shade 
trees, stretching away into the country ; then a highly 
cultivated plain, with immense fields of ripe grain, 
with scores of women in short frocks gathering the 
harvests. 

An interesting feature in this country, where such 

" Deathly iteration reigns around," 

are the numerous flower gardens which float by you so 
gracefully and so often. All the railway stations have con- 
nected with them a little parterre of flowers, in the culture 
and care of which the station master spends his leisure 
moments. It indicates a natural trait — the love of nature 
B,ndL poetry. If an American station master should even 



BAMBLES IN EUROPE. 369 

think of attaching a garden to his premises, he would plant 
therein potatoes and beans ; his first thought is gain ; 
the national trait is developed in utility. The German 
exhibits taste. We feasted our eyes on numerous and 
splendid dahlias, of all colors and shades. This is a 
ruling passion here ; I have heard of hundreds of dollars 
being paid for a single dahlia root ! 

We could not stop to visit Brussels, which we left on the 
left hand some twenty miles distant. We must have 
passed the field of Waterloo, and I confess I had no de- 
sire to tread its blood-stained soil. We reached Ghent^ 
interesting to Americans as the city where the treaty 
of peace was formed between our government and Great 
Britain, after some years of mutual slaughter and an 
immense waste o^ treasure. Why might not the same men 
have met in the same city, and settled the existing diffi- 
culties just as satisfactorily before all this destruction as 
after ? What was changed by this strife ? Nothing. It 
gave to Jackson, and Harrison, and Scott, important 
qualijications for the Presidency of the United States, 
by which the first two gained that high post of honor. 
And it gave Pike and Packenham places in West- 
minster Abbey. And a sad fact connected with this 
matter is, that the battle in which the last named lost 
his life, and the first gained his office, was fought some 
time after the treaty was made, and when peace existed 
between the two countries. 



370 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

This old city was founded by Julius Caesar, and suljse- 
quently taken by the Vandals, who called it Vauda; 
whence its name, Gaud and Ghent. We made but a short 
stop here, and then were oJQTto Brvghes, whicb we reached 
at six o'clock. This place is well named Bridges, for it 
seems to be made up of them ; so numerous are the canals 
that it almost equals Venice. It was formerly a great city. 
Its numerous spires, towers, and large buildings, tell you 
what it was. Its growth and perfection were attained 
while our country was wholly unknown to Europe. When 
Alfred the Grreat was founding the British Empire, consol- 
idating her government, and establishing her institutions, 
Grhent and Brughes were in their greatest splendor, and 
swaying the destinies of Grermany. But 

" The season of their splendor is gone by ! — 

Yet every where its monuments remain ; 
Temples which rear their stately heads on high ; 

Canals that intersect the fertile plain ; 
Wide streets and squares, with many a court and hall, 
Spacious and undefaced, but ancient all." 

So says Southey, and I believe him in this. 

Another hour, and we rattled into Ostend. A canal 
runs from Brughes to this seaport of sufficient depth to 
admit ships of one thousand tons burthen. Canal boats 
formerly plied h^re for the conveyance of passengers; but 
the railroad annihilates canals and stage coaches. This is 



KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 371 

a strongly fortified city, but of no great interest. It con- 
tains only ten thousand inhabitants ; .and is, in fact, a 
mere fishing village. The harbor is said to be the best on 
the coast, but vessels of any considerable size can only 
enter at high water. It was seven o'clock, P. M., when we 
reached Ostend, and we had the ugly English channel to 
cross that night ; a high wind was blowing directly on 
shore, and the steamer which wrs to convey us over had 
run out at high water, and was running back and forth 
across the mouth of the harbor, and we must reach her in 
small boats. We were ticketed through to Dover, yet we 
were subjected to a gross imposition by the company, as 
we had to pay the boatmen two francs apiece to row us off 
to the steamer. 

We had to pull off a mile in the teeth of the wind, seas 
and tide, to reach the steamer. Hundreds of persons 
walked down to the quay to see us ride the billows, and 
off we went, rearing and plunging, with the spray break- 
ing all over us. There were three boats filled with passen- 
gers. When we reached the steamer, and^hauled up under 
her lee, came the, ta|i^^getting on board ; it was a 
hazardous operation. N^^^IHpBe above her gunwale, 
and anon down we went under her bends. At each 
rise and fall, one passenger wou'.d be deposited on deck ; 
some landing on ol fours, some all sprawling, some 
brought up like a shot under the windward scuppers ; 
the poor women so sick as to care little whether they 



372 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

gained tbe deck or sank in tLe yeasty foam. But we got 
on board, and the little black, jumping craft started off for 
tbe cbalk cliffs of Dover. I lay down flat upon tbe cabin 
floor, and slept until aroused at one o'clock in tbe morn- 
ing, by tbe cry, *' Dover, gentlemen, Dover. Sixpence, 
if you please^ sir ! " 

We finisbed our nap at a botel, preferring to take tbe 
seven o'clock train for London, wbicb we reacbed at 
eleven, and dropped again, unexpectedly, into tbe quiet 
house of our host, Mr. Randall, No. 7 King street, Cheap- 
side. We here found letters informing us that we were 
duly booked for the United States of America in the 
Royal Mail Steamship Asia, Gapt. Judkins, to sail as per 
advertisement. 

The next day took us to this city, and we found every 
part of tbe ship engaged ; one hundred and seventy pas- 
sengers were booked to cross the Atlantic. The officers 
had given up their rooms, and were to sleep in tbe 
hold. 



-% 



Saturday, Atig. 31, A gr€iw^ bustle at our hotel; 
trunks accumulating in flBRiall ; landlord bustling about ; 
waiters dashing against each other ; cabs and hacks jostling 
and rattling along. The truth is, the steamer sails at 
twelve o'clock. 

We got a back, at last, and went down to the wharf, 
where tbe steam-tender lay waiting to convey us to the 



EAMBLES IN EUKOPE. 873 

ship, which has hauled out of her dock, and lies moored 
off in the Mersey. 

"Passengers must be on board at eleven o'clock," 
so says the captain. The last boat, with the Royal Mails, 
leaves the pier at twelve ; no passenger can go off in 
her. I counted forty-seven bags containing the mails, 
each of which would hold three bushels, I should 
judge. An officer of the Royal Navy has them in special 
charge. 

One bag was carelessly dropped overboard, and de- 
tained us nearly an hour, so that we did not fire our 
parting gun until one o'clock. The order was given in 
a style somewhat antiquated for English officers : " Why 

the don't you get that jpol'er, and fire the gun ? " 

And then a rough tar brought out a red hot poher from 
the galley, and our nine pounders told the citizens of Liv- 
erpool that the Royal Mail Steamship had departed for 
America ! 

I learned, when I reached Liverpool, that this ship 
was not going into the port of Boston, but had been 
changed to the New York line, and was to touch at 
Halifax for the last time, as she was to run against Collins' 
new line. 

A few hours sufficed to stow us away, but we were 
crowded. The ship had more passengers than she could 
accommodate well, and, of course, much inconvenience 
was suffered. We had on board eight clergymen, viz. : 
three Methodist Episcopal ; three Congregationalists ; one 
32 



374 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

Scotch Presbyterian, and one Papist. And yet, when 
Sabbath came, the Captain read prayers / Such are 
the regulations of this line, no minister, except a mem- 
ber of the English Church, can preach on board ! Yet, 
on the second Sabbath, the Scotch divine was invited, 
and did preach. I cannot tell how this " regulations^ 
of which Capt. Judkins had so much to say, was got 
over, unless Gunard, who was passenger to Halifax, 
granted a dispensation, or because the Scotch kirk is a 
kind of cousin-germ an to the English. 

Another disagreeable restriction relates to lights. No 
light is allowed to burn in any stateroom or cabin after 
ten o'clock. The waiters go round and extinguish all. 
You cannot be allowed any matches or a candle to light in 
case of sickness. 

I asked the steward what we should do if we were 
taken sick in the night. " The best you can," was the 
Burly answer. I will here inform the officers of the 
** Asia," and Mr. Cunard, who so politely and gener- 
ously ^^ damned the Americans" on a certain occasion 
on the passage, that the writer of this had abundance 
of matches, and a candle, also, all the way over. 

I kept a log hooh, on a small scale, from which I give 
the following brief extracts : — 

Sept. 1. Wind ahead, and strong.' Distance run the 
last twenty-four hours, two hundred and sixty-six miles. 
(This fact we got out of the officers by hard labor. In 



KAMBLES IN EUROPE. 375 

American steamships the ^^ log'''' is posted up daily, for 
the gratification of the passengers.) 

^eipt. 2. Wind in our favor. Sail set fore and affc. 
Distance run, three hundred and seven miles. 

Se'pt. 3. Wind still fresh ; quite a swell. Some of 
the passengers very sick ; no symptoms of it. liun three 
hundred and nine miles. 

Se'pt. 4. High wind. Sea breaks all over deck. 
Ship runs fourteen knots; distance, three hundred and 
fifteen miles. 

Se'pt. 5. Wind favorable; all sails drawing. Lost 
my supper last night ; but not at all sick to-day. Distance 
run, three hundred and two miles. 

Sept. 6. Wind still fresh and fair. Ship goes through 
the water finely. Sits not so deeply in the water 
by some ten inches. Saw a grand iceberg, computed 
one hundred feet high, and covering acres of ocean. 
Passed within half a mile of it. Run three hundred 
miles. 

Sejit. 7. Calm and smooth. Saw steamer Europa, 
from Halifax. Captain ordered course changed, so as 
to speak her. Guns loaded for a salute. Europa changed 
her course and headed for us. Our Captain very 
quietly ordered the ship on her course again, to save 
distance, and make the Europa lose all. Her commander, 
Capt. Lett, must h^e a good glass, for he saw the trick, 
and put away on his course. The ''poher^^ was pro- 
cured, and the guns fired, but Lott took no notice of 



376 RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 

US and we got no news. Distance run, three hundred 
and ten miles. Made Cape Pine at half-past seven 
o'clock, A. M. 

Sept. 8. Sabbath. A sermon by a Scotch clergyman. 
He very innocently inquired of me " if there were any 
houses on the Bmiks of Newfoundland!'''' Came 
within six feet of a collision with a brig ! Foggy. Dis- 
tance run, three hundred miles. In the afternoon very 
thick. Halifax passengers are getting ready to go ashore. 
Expect to be in at eight or nine o'clock, P. M. Rains 
powerfully, with a strong gale from the south-east. Ship 
rolls badly. Lead is kept going. 

Sept. 9. Experienced last night a fearful gale ; and, 
instead of reaching Halifax at nine in the evening, we 
had to put about and run out to sea forty miles, the 
ship at times rolling so as to dip her main yard into the 
water. Wind changed to north-west at one, A. M., and 
blew a gale. Reached Halifax at ten, A. M,, and left at 
twelve. 

Sept. 10. Fine and smooth. Running for New York. 
Made three hundred miles. 

Sept. 11. We arrived at Jersey at eleven o'clock, 
A. M., in eleven days and sixteen hours from Liverpool. 

I was glad when I sailed to visit the Old World, as 
I was about to realize a dream of my whole life. But 
my joy was infinitely higher when I again set foot on 
American soil, for I was confirmed in my life-long con- 



RAMBLES IN EUROPE. 377 

victions that this is tlie greatest, the most enterprising, 
the most prosperous, the most religious, (with all its 
faults and sins,) and the happiest, country in the world. 
And I here record my gratitude to the " Preserver 
of men," that, in all my wanderings, he has preserved 
me from " the pestilence that walketh in darkness " 
and from '' the destruction that wasteth at noon-day," and 
brought me again to my home in safety. 



CATALOGUE 

OP 

NEW AND VALUABLE BOOKS, 

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CHAS. H. PEIRGE & CO., 

NO. 5 CORNHILL, BOSTON. 



DIYINE UNIOI(. 

BY T. C. UPHAM, D. D. 

The present work is intended to iBnisli the series, of which 
Interior Life, and the Life of Faith, have already been pub- 
lished. 12mo. Price $1.00. 

A Teeatisk on Divine Union, designed to point out some 
of the Intimate Relations between God and Man in the higher 
forms of Religious Experience. Another book from Dr. Up- 
ham, upon " the higher forms of religious experience," will 
not be unwelcome to the religious public, and, we doubt not, 
will share the deserved popularity of its predecessors. 

Christian Advocate and Journal. 

Upham on Divine Union. — Here is a truly good book. It 
has its defects, some of them theological, and some, it may 
be, practical, at least so far as inward practical devotion is 
concerned ; but it is full of the sterling gold of pure truth ; it 
unveils the communion of the sanctified mind with God in the 
inner sanctuary, and by a simple, direct course of teaching, 
leads the devout inquirer into the holiest of holies. Prof 
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their rare excellences. They have done vast good ; the pres- 
1 



2 CHARLES H. PEIRCE & CO.'s PUBLICATIONS. 

ent volume, we predict, will do still more. It will be a favor- 
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Zion^s Herald. 



THE YOUNG MAN'S COUNSELLOR. 

BY REY. DANIEL WISE. 
Author of "Path of Life/' &c. 
4th Edition. 
«' The Young Man's Counsellor : or, Sketches and Illustra- 
tions of the Duties and Dangers of Young Men. Designed to 
be a guide to success in this life, and to happiness in the life 
which is to come. By Rev. Daniel AVise, A. M. 1 vol. 
12mo., 255 pages. Boston : Published by C. H. Peirce." 
The excellent practical advice which this volume contains is 
conveyed in a style so winning and impressive, that the book 
has the interest of a novel, and at the same time the moral 
eifect of a good discourse. It is deserving of a wide circula- 
tion. — Transcript. 



THE EMINENT DEAD; 

OR, 

THE TRIUMPHS OF EAITH IN THE DYING HOUR. 

BY BRADFORD K. PEIRCE. 

WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BY A. STEVENS. 

" The Eminent Dead" is the title of a new work from the 
pen of Rev. B. K. Peirce. It is a series of illustrations of the 
triumph of faith in the dying hour. These illustrations are 
drawn from the histories of the most distinguished characters 
in the church, from the days of the Reformation to our own 
times. They are not merely descriptions of their last hours, 
but well-digested memoirs, showing their lives in reference to 



CHARLES K, PEIRCE & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 3 

their deaths. Several similar works are extant, but none as 
satisfactory as this. We commend it "without hesitation. Its 
mechanical execution is quite commendable, also. The type 
is liberal, the paper fine, and the binding neat. 

Zion's Herald. 



THE GENIUS AND MISSION OF METHODISM, 

EMBRACIxa 

WHAT IS PECULIAR IN DOCTRINE, GOVERNMENTS, 
MODES OF WORSHIP, ETC. 

BY REV. W. P. STRICKLAND, 

Of the Ohio Conference. 

Price 37^ cents. 

The author of the present volume has conceived that an 
uncultivated province in our denominational literature invited 
the labor of his mind and pen, in the subject which he has 
presented to the reading public. 

As a "hand-book" of Methodism, presenting the provi- 
dential character of its origin and of the institution of its 
various means for spiritual culture and growth, it will find, 
we trust, a welcome place on the shelves of the family library, 
and in the reading of our people. 

The want of a small portable volume, giving, in a popular 
form, a digest of our views of faith and forms of discipline, 
has been felt by our ministerial brethren. Such a volume, 
exhibiting, without controversy, the peculiarities which give us 
a distinct existence among the various tribes of Israel, — the 
object and importance of our religious institutions, and a con 
nected view of our ecclesiastical polity, — has been considered 
a desideratum to place in the hands of young converts, and 
also for the perusal of maturer members of the church, who 
cannot afford the expense or time required for the purchase 
and reading of more voluminous works. 



4 CHARLES H. PjilRCE & CO.'s PUBLICATIONS. 

WISE'S QUESTIONS ON ROMANS. 

Anew and revised edition of this popular Sablbatli-school 
text-book has just been published. It is accompanied with an 
appendix, containing short comments upon the more difficult 
passages in this epistle. For a Bible-class, or the adult mem- 
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book of study cannot be secured. Handsomely bound. $1.50 
per dozen. 

The author's familiarity with the wants of the Sabbath- 
school, and his success in the preparation of text-books, will 
be a sufficient warrant for the good execution of the present 
volume. The subject, one of the most interesting and import- 
ant books in the Scripture Canon, will afford a valuable field 
for study and discussion in the Bible class. — Zion's Herald. 



CLEAYELAND'S YOYAGES. 

A JVarrative of Voyages and Commercial Enterprises. 

BY RICHARD J. CLEAVELAND. 

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY BILLINGS. ILLUSTRATED WITH FOUR 
ELEGANT STEEL ENGRAVINGS. 

12mo. Price $1.00. ~ 

This is one of the most interesting volumes of voyages and 
commercial adventures that has been issued from the press. 
The present is the third edition of this valuable and popular 
work, and has been printed from new stereotype plates on beau- 
tiful paper, and is bound in the richest styles of the art. 

Charles H. Peirce, Boston, has issued an exceedingly intei- 
esting " Narrative of Voyages and Commercial Enterprises,'* 
performed by Richard J. Cleaveland. These voyages began 
some forty-five years since, and closed about twenty years ago 
They extend, therefore, over a period of our commercial his« 
tory of no little importance, and are considerably more inter- 



C^ARLES H. PEIRCE &c CO. S PUBLICATIONS. 5 

esting than if they were more recent. The author writes with 
a good, pertinent style, and his volume is embellished by sev- 
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THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL MELODIST. 

BY REV. A. D. MERRILL 

The music, a large portion of which is original, has been 
prepared expressly for the use of children in our Sabbath- 
schools. Of the eminent qualifications of the author, — so 
well known and beloved in all our churches, — to prepare such 
a work, those acquainted with the previous musical produc- 
tions of Bro. Merrill will need no further guarantee. The 
hymns have also been selected with great care, both in refer- 
ence to securing a variety and as to their lyrical merits. 

The publisher proposes to issue the volume at the lowest 
price at which it can be afforded, that it may enjoy a general 
circulation in our schools. The following commendation of 
the work, while passing through the press, was forwarded to 
the publisher by the Secretary of the Preachers' Meeting : — 

At a meeting of the Preachers of Boston and vicinity, held 
at the Committee-room, No. 7 Cornhill, Boston, the following 
resolution was unanimously adopted, and it was voted that a 
copy of the same be presented by the President and Secretary 
to Brother Charles H. Peirce : — 

Resolved, That we cordially recommend the publication of 
the book of music and hymns prepared for the use and benefit 
of Sunday-schools, by our excellent father in the Gospel, Rev. 
A. J). Merrill. Loranus Crowell, President 

LuMAN BoYDEN, Secretary, 
1* 



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t 10 59^ 



